With the change of seasons, the literary scene picks up pace

Excess is the word when it comes to literary activity in Buffalo this fall. It’s harder these days to find a night without a literary event happening than it is to find a night without. Not that I’m complaining—literary excess keeps me employed! From open readings to highbrow literary lectures, poetry slams to experimental fiction, the Queen City literary scene is as lively and diverse as ever.

Chinua Achebe

Several long-standing series, such as the Write Thing at Medaille College, the Canisius Contemporary Writer Series, Exhibit X Fiction and Prose, and Poetics Plus at UB march on alongside a host of other more recent series such as the Gray Hair Reading Series at Hallwalls, the Small Press Poetry Series at Rust Belt Books, and the Nickel City Poetry Slam at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

Highlighting the fall calendar is a visit from African literary icon Chinua Achebe, whose classic novel Things Fall Apart is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its publication this year. Achebe kicks off the second, completely sold-out season of Just Buffalo’s Babel series on September 25 at Babeville. On October 29, novelist Michael Ondaatje rides into town to discuss The English Patient.

Not be outdone, Canisius College’s Contemporary Writers Series opens with another acclaimed writer from Nigeria, Uwem Akpan, on September 18. Also gracing the Canisius stage are Ann Patchett, author of the wildly popular Bel Canto, on October 2; New Yorker magazine satirist and poet Calvin Trillin on October 21; and Indian-born novelist Rish Reddi, author of Karma and Other Stories.

Former SUNY at Buffalo professor and postmodern fictioneer Raymond Federman will be feted for his 80th birthday on October 18. From 1pm to 4pm at the Poetry Collection at UB, panels consisting of Susan Rubin Suleiman, Larry Mccaffery, and Marcel Cornis-Pope will discuss his work. At the Medaille College Lecture Hall at 8pm, Charles Bernstein will headline a reading in honor of Federman, along with Ted Pelton, Geoffrey Gatza, Christina Milletti, Michael Basinski, Simone Federman, and Raymond Federman himself.

Another local literary luminary and former UB professor, Bill Sylvester, has two big events schedule in the fall. On October 6 at Hallwalls, several performers will read from Sylvester’s recent translations of Aeschylus in an evening called “Monologues/Dialogues from Aeschylus’s Oresteia.” He will read again as part of the opening of the new Burchfield-Penney Art Center on November 23.

Talking Leaves Books and Hallwalls will combine for an amazing live webcast featuring Philip Roth on September 16 at the Hallwalls cinema. Talking Leaves was one of only a handful of bookstores nationally, and the only one locally, chosen to participate in this event. Roth will be discussing the publication of is new book, Indignation. Autographed copies of the new book will be for sale.

Medaille College continues to add value to the quality of the local literary scene with its Write Thing Reading Series. The season starts on September 18 with fiction writer Neal Chandler, author of Benediction: A Book of Stories. October 23 brings poet Christopher Schmidt, and in November Joshua Harmon arrives on the scene touting his locally published novel, Quinnehtukqut.

Exhibit X: Fiction and Prose expands its interest in experimental fiction to include a broad range of fiction and prose. Croatian writing star Dubravka Ugresic reads at the Karpeles on September 17. On October 28 at Hallwalls, Charles McNair, a science fiction author whose Land O’Goshen takes place in Alabama, will be serendipitously paired with local author Allen Shelton, whose work, Dreamworlds of Alabama, was reviewed in these pages last year. On November 11, Mathew Derby, author of Super Flat Times, will read with noted poet and fiction writer Vijay Seshradi.

The Poetics Plus Series at UB brings in poets from around the world throughout the year. The season kicks off with a multimedia poetry presentation by Rodrigo Toscano at Soundlab on September 19. Poetry Project artistic director Stacy Szymaszek and Belladonna Books/Readings producer Erika Kaufman read at Rust Belt Books on September 25. L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry legend Bruce Andrews reads on October 15 at Karpeles, followed by poet Erica Hunt on October 24 and British poet Alan Halsey on October 28 and poet Ted Greenwald on November 18. Another British poet, Geraldine Monk, reads at Hallwalls on October 30. Writer and performer Tracie Morris reads at Hallwalls on November 6.

Continuing along the poetry continuum, Just Buffalo’s Small Press Poetry Series survives the departure of founder Kevin Thurston for the vibrant literary culture that is Seoul, Korea. This season kicks off at Big Orbit Gallery with a reading by poets Logan Ryan Smith and Frank Sherlock on September 18. On October 16, poets Kim Rosenfeld and Marie Buck read at Rust Belt Books. On November 20, Elaine Equi, a finalist for the prestigious Griffin Prize (she lost to John Ashbery), reads with poet Jerome Sala, who is also her husband and author of such underground classics as Spaz Attack and I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent. The season ends on September 11 with a pair of local writers, Russell Pascatore and Ben Lyle Bedard, at Rust Belt Books.

Just Buffalo’s Interdisciplinary Performance Series mixes spoken word performance with music and other art forms. On September 18, Just Buffalo and the International Institute of Buffalo present “Sankofa: An Evening of African Culture,” featuring African music, dance, storytelling, spoken word, and, most importantly, food. In October, One World Tribe performs at the Tralf, supported by poets Vonetta Rhodes and Marquis B. Burton, a.k.a. Ten Thousand. On November 14 the series presents “Open Ended Question: Music, Poetry, Politics with Michael Meldrum and Friends.” Singer/songwriter Michael Meldrum performs at Hallwalls Cinema with poets Tynesha Davis, a.k.a. Lovely, and Sam Floyd, followed by an open mic. Finally, Buffalo artist William Y. Cooper will exhibit some of his cartoons at El Museo in a December 6 exhibition and performance called, The Lighter Side. Guitarist Rich Hendricks will perform and there will also be an open mic.

The ever-popular Gray Hair Reading Series at Hallwalls’ Cinema, whose reader’s salt-peppery plumages connote wisdom as well as youth(fulness), meets on the second Wednesday of each month. This fall’s readers are Michael Hopkins and Martha Deed on September 10; Don Mitchell and Ruth Thompson on October 15; George Hole and Efrayim (Fred Barry) Levenson on November 12; and Loren Keller and Grace Ritz December 10.

The Nickel City Poetry Slam, which sent a team to the National Poetry Slam Championship this summer, returns for another run on the first Friday of each month at Gusto at the Gallery, October being the exception this year. These events always allow for 10 readers to compete. Winners accumulate points throughout the year and those with the highest point totals compete in the Nickel City Poetry Slam Championship in May for a spot on Buffalo’s national team. Sign-ups begin at 7pm in Clifton Hall.

Those looking to share their own work will find an open mic the first Sunday of each month at Tru-Teas on Elmwood Avenue and on the second Wednesday of the month at the Center For Inquiry in Amherst.

You’ll also find that the coordinated efforts of the various impresarios of the Buffalo literary scene in Buffalo (yours truly included) have marshaled their efforts to get the word out: online at the Literary Buffalo Web site (justbuffalo.org) or via the literary Buffalo e-newsletter; weekly in Artvoice; and monthly via the colorful poster adorning the walls of your local café.

Anything else? Probably. Visit the Web site to find out.