A Writer's Guide to Buffalo

The Central Library is the main library of the Buffalo & Erie County system, with about two million volumes. Its three private study rooms are free; take one if it is empty, or reserve it at the Computer Reference Desk. Special collections include the Mark Twain Room and the Rare Book Room.

Crane has two small study rooms for up to four people each. Reserve one for a two-hour block, in person or by phone. Walk-ins are welcome when a room is free.

The Poetry Collection describes itself as one of the world's largest collections of poetry first editions. Research visits are on weekdays. The staff strongly encourage an appointment.

Buffalo State's Archives & Special Collections, in Room 218, holds local and regional collections and opens to the public by appointment. Community members can borrow books by joining the Friends of the Library, a paid membership that asks for a New York State photo ID or proof of local residency. Zine readers should head to the third-floor Global Lounge.

Talking Leaves is an independent general bookstore with a strong Buffalo shelf. It sells the books at Just Buffalo's BABEL series and the Cover to Cover book festival, and it presents author events around the city.

Rust Belt Books calls itself the largest used bookstore in Buffalo. Its shelves run from poetry and philosophy to history and art. The store hosts readings and rents a curtained-off meeting space called Gather. It is closed Mondays.

Two writers who were booksellers at Powell's run Evening House. New books share the floor with a picky used selection, and the focus is indie authors and presses, especially horror and weird fiction. Its book clubs are Evening Hours and Strange Short Fiction. It is closed Sundays and Mondays.

Burning Books is a radical bookstore. Its books and zines cover activism and politics, with children's and YA titles on hand as well, and it hosts the heARTburn civic arts meet-ups.

Black Rock Books is an independent shop for books and stationery. It specializes in literary fiction and writing by underrepresented voices, and its reading lists include Small Press Favorites and a New York Review Books shelf. Book clubs meet here. The shop is closed Mondays.

FITZ sells new and used books that bring hidden histories to light and push for social change, and it serves Liège waffles. Story Club Buffalo, a monthly live storytelling show, meets here. It is open daily.

Westside Stories is a used bookstore owned by a former librarian. It is open Thursday through Sunday.

Dog Ears is a neighborhood bookstore and café in South Buffalo. Its literacy programs have Erie County support, and the Enlightenment Literary Arts Center belongs to the same organization.

Open Hours is free writing time at Just Buffalo, and you can stay as long as you like. Work on your own pages and draw on the center's library. Other writers come to talk about their reading and writing. Most sessions fall on weekday evenings, with some on Saturday mornings.

Tipico roasts its own coffee and pours wine as well. The inside is cozy, and there is a large front deck. A Buffalo study-café directory lists it as laptop-friendly with Wi-Fi, and it keeps morning-to-early-afternoon hours every day.

Undergrounds roasts its own coffee in small batches and opens early every day. A Buffalo study-café directory notes its abundant seating and fast Wi-Fi. The second café, at 1 Seneca Street in Seneca One Tower, is open weekdays.

Overwinter roasts in small batches, and its Elmwood café fills a converted Victorian-era house overlooking Elmwood Avenue. It is open daily. Downtown, the company has another café at 9 Genesee Street.

Caffe Aroma serves coffee and wine at the corner of Elmwood and Bidwell. A Buffalo study-café directory calls it quiet and cozy, with Wi-Fi. Poets come for its Poetry Night open mic, and the café is closed Sundays.

Duende is a bar and restaurant on the grounds of Silo City, with live music most weeks and an open mic on the second Tuesday of the month. Just Buffalo holds its summer Silo City Reading Series in the Marine A grain elevator at the same address. Duende is closed Mondays.

Cornelia is the Buffalo AKG Art Museum's restaurant, in the Knox Building. Come in the morning for pastries and coffee, or later for lunch. On the second floor of the Gundlach Building, the Sculpture Bar serves coffee and wine with views of the campus.

Roux serves soup inside the Burchfield Penney Art Center, the museum devoted to Western New York artists. The museum hosts a Writers Salon. The café is open Wednesday through Saturday.

Em Tea is a small café a block from the Canisius student center, and it goes by "The Poetry Place." A Tuesday night open mic series meets here, and so does Pure Ink Poetry, a slam and open-mic series.

Just Buffalo brings authors to Kleinhans Music Hall for its BABEL series and runs the Silo City Reading Series. Its Writing Center offers workshops and book clubs for adults. Need a room for a workshop or a reading? The center rents out its downtown space.

The Western New York Book Arts Center teaches letterpress printing and bookmaking in classes and workshops. It also runs an artist residency and a gallery. The shop sells handprinted goods and bookmaking supplies.

Canisius brings poets and fiction writers to campus for readings, each followed by questions and a reception. The events are free and open to the public. An English professor coordinates the series, which works with the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Just Buffalo and Talking Leaves Books.

UB's English department runs two reading series. Poetics Plus brings contemporary experimental poets to campus, and Exhibit X presents experimental and innovative fiction writers. The department also hosts the Robert Creeley Lecture on Poetry and Poetics.

The Humanities Institute helps UB faculty get books into print. It funds peer review of a book proposal or manuscript and helps cover editing and publishing expenses. Faculty planning a conference or symposium can apply for funding too.

The Poetry Collection holds more than 150 archives of poets, presses, magazines and organizations. Its James Joyce Collection includes Joyce's working papers and his private library. Visiting scholars and graduate students can apply for the James Joyce Fellowship and the Charles D. Abbott Fellowship to research in UB's special collections.

Humanities New York is the state humanities council. Its public programs include In Common: A Humanities Forum and Community Conversations, and its Humanities Unbound reading-and-discussion groups run with partners such as Just Buffalo.

White Pine Press is an independent literary press publishing poetry and prose, including literature in translation. It awards the White Pine Press Poetry Prize and the Cliff Becker Book Prize in Translation. Its series include the Korean Voices Series and the Marie Alexander Series.

BlazeVOX publishes innovative fiction and poetry, with some nonfiction and literary criticism. Its online journal carries poetry and fiction alongside text art and visual poetry.

Theatre Journal publishes scholarly articles on theatre and performance, dance included, along with book and performance reviews. Johns Hopkins University Press publishes it for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. The editor, Ariel Nereson, is in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University at Buffalo. Preparing an article for Theatre Journal

International Studies Quarterly is the flagship journal of the International Studies Association, and Oxford University Press publishes it. It takes on theoretical and empirical subjects in international studies. Two of its three lead editors, Sam R. Bell and Elena McLean, are at the University at Buffalo. Preparing an article for International Studies Quarterly

The Journal of Politics publishes work from every subfield of political science. The University of Chicago Press publishes it for the Southern Political Science Association, and co-editor-in-chief Timothy Hellwig is at the University at Buffalo. Preparing an article for The Journal of Politics

The New York Foundation for the Arts runs these fellowships with the New York State Council on the Arts for originating artists who live in New York State or belong to Tribal Nations in the state. Disciplines rotate, and the literary ones are nonfiction, poetry, fiction and playwriting/screenwriting. Panels of New York artists and cultural workers review the applications.

Support for Artists funds new work and creative commissions by New York State artists at any career stage, and literature is one of its fields. Apply with a New York State nonprofit as your sponsor. The grant goes to the sponsor on your behalf.

Arts Services Inc. administers this NYSCA-funded regrant program in Western New York. Artists and collectives who live in Erie County can apply, along with those in Niagara and Chautauqua counties and the Native nations sharing that geography. Writers will want the Individual Artist category, which funds the creation of new work. ASI also offers fiscal sponsorship.

Just Buffalo's fellowship is for adult poets at any career stage. The fellow receives a stipend and a month of lodging in Buffalo. There is also a reading at the Silo City Reading Series.

Our sister site's guide for Niagara University students gathers grants and writing resources in one place.

The center's letterpress studio takes custom printing jobs and holds open studio sessions. It shares its building with Just Buffalo. It is closed Sundays through Tuesdays.

LIBBY prints art editions and posters by risograph and screenprint. Apparel orders have low minimums, and the studio teaches classes.

Quality Bindery Services is a commercial bindery, and thesis binding is its specialty. It also does hardcover and softcover binding and repairs books and Bibles. Custom-bound journals are on its list as well.