Just Buffalo's Civil Writes Project features community events, BABEL with Ta-Nehisi Coates

Recipients of $15,000 in project support

Just Buffalo Literary Center today announced the nine artists, organizations and community groups receiving a total of $15,000 to support events aligned with Just Buffalo’s Civil Writes Project, a community engagement project that celebrates Black writers and seeks pathways toward justice in the power of the literary arts.

The recipients are:

• Arts Collaboratory/The Space Between for “Creating Space for Joy” by Naila Ansari & Marquis “Ten Thousand” Burton
• D’Youville College Honors Program for “Voices of Justice”
• Get Fokus’d Productions for “Through the Lens”
• Grassroots Gardens WNY & Buffalo Freedom Gardens
• Kari Winter for “Reclaiming our Ancestors”
• Lafayette International High School & Torn Space Theater for “Agents of Change”
• Squeaky Wheel & Johann Diedrick for “Dark Matters”
• Typography of Women/Celeste Lawson for “Letter from a Birmingham Jail; If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Was Here Today”
• Western New York Network of English Teachers for “Stories That Must be Told”

The 2021 Civil Writes Project centers on Just Buffalo’s virtual BABEL presentation with bestselling author Ta-Nehisi Coates on April 22.

Other upcoming Civil Writes Project programming includes a virtual tour on April 10 and a writing workshop on April 17 in collaboration with the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center; a virtual comic book discussion with the Wakanda Alliance on April 10; a sidewalk chalk installation by artist LaShonda Davis; and Water in the Desert, a collaborative youth project with Ujima Company and Squeaky Wheel. In addition, hundreds of copies of “The Water Dancer,” Coates’s bestselling novel, are being distributed throughout the community.

Just Buffalo’s Civil Writes Project began in 2017 with a series of interconnected literary arts programs culminating in Toni Morrison’s appearance at the organization’s BABEL series, 50 years after Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic speech on the same stage at Kleinhans Music Hall.

Civil Writes Project programming is ongoing through June. To learn more, see the full calendar of upcoming Civil Writes Project events and get involved, visit justbuffalo.org.

Just Buffalo Literary Center’s mission is to create and strengthen communities through the literary arts. For over 45 years, the organization has brought the world’s top writers to Buffalo, hosted poetry events and readings, and supported the development of young writers. For more information, visit justbuffalo.org.