> by heather cook

On Thursday (10/22), 12:30pm—Mark Laliberte, a man of many talents, will be presenting his works, on the fourth floor of Capen Hall. Holding an MFA from the University of Guelph, he is a visual artist, curator, writer, soundmaker and the designer and managing editor of Carousel. He travels between his hometown in Canada and the USA to appear and perform in festivals and galleries. His poetry and other works have appeared in an array of literary publications. In early 2010, BRICKBRICKBRICK, a full-length book of visual poems, was debuted with BookThug. Later that year, GREY SUPREME 1—a collection of experimental images, text and hybrid literary forms—was released with Koyama Press. Laliberte is currently working on both GREY SUPREME 2 and his next full-sized comic-poetry manuscript, tentatively titled BalloonCloudBubble. On his website, www.marklaliberte.com, you can find more details and links to his works—including an interesting collection of illustrated interviews and essays, under “Art Writing.” Come to UB’s Poetry Collection for an appearance you won’t forget.

On Friday (10/23), 8pm—Claudia Rankine will be the speaker at the Just Buffalo BABEL event at Kleinhans Symphony Hall, 3 Symphony Circle. Audience members will enjoy a thought-provoking reading, discussion and book-signing, which will then be followed by an interview-style Q&A, moderated by Barbara Cole, Artistic Director. In Citizen: An American Lyric, an account of the racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media, is the follow-up to her innovative book Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric. Citizen: An American Lyric is the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the first book ever to be nominated in two categories. Claudia Rankine is a recipient of awards and fellowships from the Academy of American Poetry, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lannan Foundation. She is currently the Henry G. Lee Professor of English at Pomona College. Don’t miss her appearance.

On Saturday (10/24), 5 pm—David Smeltz, Angola author of The Adventures of Sidney Sawyer, a series of six novels featuring scoundrel Civil War General Sidney Sawyer of Buffalo, will talk about and sign copies of the first five novels. The event is free.

On Thursday (10/29), Despina Stratigakos will discuss and sign her newest book, Hitler at Home. This newly published work explores the ways in which Hitler’s private persona was shaped by the aesthetic and ideological management of his domestic architecture and other untold personal stories through newly discovered archival sources. The book is richly illustrated, offering readers a rare glimpse into the decisions that were involved in the making of Hitler’s homes and into the influence of the propaganda that influenced how the world viewed him. Despina Stratigakos is an associate professor and interim chair of architecture at UB, and author of two books, Women’s Berlin in 2008 and Hitler at Home in 2015. This event is free and hosted by Talking Leaves at 7pm, 3158 Main Street.