New six-week Writers’ Workshop begins on June 25 at Dog Ears Bookstore

A new six-week session of the Writers’ Workshop for adults is slated at Dog Ears Bookstore & Café, 688 Abbott Road, Buffalo. Classes will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. beginning Thursday, June 25, skipping July 2 and then continuing on the next five Thursdays.

All participants will present current writing efforts that will be gently critiqued. Light refreshments are included, and the cost is $75 for all six Thursday evening meetings.                          

To register for the Writers’ Workshop, please call the bookstore at (716) 823-2665 or email John Schreier at jmarkschrei@aol.com.

Bloomsday event in Buffalo’s Irish District will celebrate the works of novelist James Joyce

Dog Ears Bookstore & Café, in partnership with the University at Buffalo’s James Joyce Collection and the Buffalo Irish Consulate, will host a community-wide Bloomsday event on Saturday, June 13, to celebrate the works of Irish novelist and poet James A. Joyce. An annual celebration of Joyce’s work, Bloomsday commemorates a day in the life of the main character, Leopold Bloom, from Joyce’s novel Ulysses. 

Ireland's Consul General Gerald Angley and Deputy Consul General Roisin Leonard will be in Buffalo for the event!

Ireland’s Consul General Gerald Angley and Deputy Consul General Roisin Leonard will be in Buffalo for the event!

The day kicks off at 11 a.m. when participants can begin their South Buffalo adventure with a visit to Dog Ears Bookstore, located in Buffalo’s Irish District, to pick up a special map that can be stamped at other Irish-themed local businesses throughout the day. Participants will also receive one free book by James Joyce or local authors Sinead Tyrone (who will be on site signing her books), Sally Rooney, Claire Keegan or Niall Williams — while supplies last. The book giveaway is sponsored by the Buffalo Irish Consulate. Ireland’s Consul General Gerald Angley and Deputy Consul General Roisin Leonard will be in Buffalo for the event!

A representative from University at Buffalo will also be at Dog Ears to promote and distribute information on The James Joyce Collection, while Dog Ears Café will feature a soda bread contest and specials. Please call the bookstore at  (716) 823-2665 by Thursday, June 11 to register your soda bread entry.

Each participating business will also offer discounts and specials during the Bloomsday event. Business taking part in the event include:
• Dog Ears Bookstore, 688 Abbott Road
• Brick Oven Bistro & Deli, 904 Abbott Road
• Molly Maguire’s, 834 Abbott Road
• Doc Sullivan’s, 474 Abbott Road
• The Blackthorn Restaurant & Pub, 2134 Seneca St.
• The Riverfield, 865 Elk St.
• Kupkates, 956 Abbott Road
• Burkey’s Sportswear, 904 Abbott Road
• Tara Gift Shoppe, 250 Abbott Road
• Buffalo Irish Center, 245 Abbott Road
(Please check hours for each business.)

The last stop on the June 13 adventure is the Buffalo Irish Center, where participants who drop off their fully stamped maps will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 Dog Ears Bookstore gift card!

For more information, please visit Dog Ears Bookstore or call (716) 823-2665.

Dog Ears Bookstore to again offer free summer literacy camps for kids

Dog Ears Bookstore will once again offer free summer programming for local students. The week-long camps are designed to help build reading and writing skills, as well as comprehensive skills that target the needs for each specific grade level. Throughout the camps, participants will learn helpful tips, skills and strategies that will carry across all subject areas and transition into the NYS Common Core Curriculum. However, lessons and activities will be fun, interactive and hands-on and will utilize multiple methods of instruction to meet the varied learning styles.

Sign-ups will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 2 at Dog Ears Bookstore.

Sign-ups will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 2 at Dog Ears Bookstore.

All sessions will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are limited to 20 students per camp. Please note “entering grade” for the 2026-27 school year. There are no exceptions as camp lessons are aligned with grade level expectations.

• July 6-10, students entering grades 4-6
• July 13-17, students entering grades 2-3
• July 20-24, Camp Kindness for students entering grades 6-8
• July 27-31, students entering grades 4-6
• Aug. 3-7, students entering grades 2-3
• Aug. 10-14, students entering grades 7-8
• Aug. 17-21, Camp Kindness for students entering grades 6-8

Please note that there are three different types of camps and that each participant can sign up for only one.

Camp Kindness participants will plan and take part in fun service projects in the community and then journal about their experiences. This is also an opportunity for students to meet community service hour requirements.

Camps for the youngest participants are open to children of all reading and writing levels and will consist of morning activities which include — but are not limited to — music, sports, animals, drama, literature, arts, community awareness and other topics. Students should bring their own bagged lunch (or lunches will be available for purchase at Dog Ears Café) each day. After lunch, participants will break into small groups to reflect upon, write about, and share thoughts about their morning experiences and achievements.

The camps for the two older groups will be slightly different. Participants will be introduced to “speed book dating” and literature circles to broaden the scope and exposure to different types of literary genres, styles, influences, authors and cultures. Different forms of writing, along with the processes that go into each one, will also be explored. Youth in the 7th and 8th grade camp will participate in Writer’s Workshops that will be based on a pre-chosen novel. Students should bring their own bagged lunch (or lunches will be available for purchase at Dog Ears Café) each day.

All facilitators that plan and teach all camps are New York State certified. All supplies and portfolios for writing pieces will be provided.

Camps will be held at Dog Ears Bookstore, which is located at 688 Abbott Road, Buffalo, near Mercy Hospital. Sessions will be held upstairs of the bookstore (enter through the front entrance). Adults must be mindful of the drop-off and pick-up times and are welcome to wait for their children at the end of the day in the café, which will be open for food and beverage purchases. All students must be signed in and out of camp each day by an adult.

Sign-ups will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 2 at Dog Ears Bookstore. No sign-ups will be taken over the phone. Children can register for one camp only and parents and grandparents can only register their own children. (I.E. you cannot register multiple children on behalf of other families.)

Pre-registration is required and participants are expected to attend the entire week that they are signed up for. Each registered participant must commit to attending all five days.

The free camps are made possible through funding by Erie County Youth Services and The Office of South District Council Member Christopher P. Scanlon. For additional information regarding the camps, please contact Tom McDonnell at tom@enlightenthedog.org.

Evening sessions for students entering grades 9 to 12, to help with required reading and reading skills, will also be offered this summer. Information will be released soon. Please check the Dog Ears Facebook page for updates, or e-mail Tom at tom@enlightenthedog.org.

Dog Ears to host Words Colliding With Art workshop

Words Colliding With Art, a six-session creative workshop designed for adults 55 and older that explores the dynamic relationship between poetry and visual art, will take place at Dog Ears Bookstore & Café, 688 Abbott Road, Buffalo. Sessions will be held at 11:30 a.m. on April 15, 22 and 29, May 6 and 27, and June 3. Each session will last from 90 minutes two two hours.

The goal of the program is to reduce the fear often associated with making art.

The goal of the program is to reduce the fear often associated with making art.

Gatherings will begin with a poem used as a shared reference point, serving not as an instruction manual but as a spark. Participants will respond by creating a visual artwork in various mediums, allowing language to move off the page and into form, color, texture and symbol. No prior experience in poetry or visual art is required; curiosity is the only prerequisite.

Following the creative portion of each workshop, participants will engage in a short guided discussion focused on process rather than product. Session criteria will encourage the use of symbolism drawn from the poem as it resonates personally with each participant, as well as the intentional connection of elements across different visual mediums. These discussions will offer participants a vocabulary for talking about their work and an opportunity to reflect on how meaning shifts when an idea moves from words to images — and back again.

The goal of the program is to reduce the fear often associated with making art, particularly later in life, and to expand participants’ confidence in their own creative instincts. By emphasizing exploration over outcome, the workshop affirms the deep individual reservoirs of experience, insight and imagination that participants already possess. This program fosters creative risk-taking in a supportive environment, reinforcing the idea that artistic expression is not a fixed talent but a lifelong, evolving practice — one that becomes richer, not riskier, with age.

For more information or to register, please stop by the bookstore or call (716) 823-2665.

WNY Red Cross partners with Dog Ears on volunteer recruitment efforts, preparedness training event

The American Red Cross of Western New York announced its partnered with Dog Ears Bookstore & Café, located at 688 Abbott Road, Buffalo, to help support local volunteer recruitment and preparedness training efforts in the community. Starting this week, coffee sleeves at Dog Ears Bookstore & Café will feature Red Cross graphics, contact information and a QR code to direct customers to more information on some of the most-needed volunteer positions and how to get involved.

In addition, Dog Ears Bookstore & Café will host a Red Cross preparedness training event on Sunday, March 29 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will include free Hands-Only CPR training, information on Red Cross disaster preparedness, as well as volunteer recruitment team members who will be on hand to discuss local volunteer opportunities. 

“Volunteers are the backbone of the Red Cross workforce, helping to deliver our mission here at home and across the country for more than 140 years,” said Nick Bond, CEO, American Red Cross Western New York region. “Whether it’s signing up to volunteer or learning a lifesaving skill like Hands-Only CPR, we are grateful to community partners like Dog Ears Bookstore & Café for helping to highlight the need for volunteers and encourage the public to learn more about opportunities to join our humanitarian mission.”

“When disasters strike, the American Red Cross is there. I am proud to partner with the Red Cross to help educate the local community on the importance of preparing for life’s emergencies, as well as helping to support recruitment efforts in the event that a disaster strikes,” said Tom McDonnell, executive director of Dog Ears Bookstore & Café. “I am looking forward to more collaborative efforts to come.” 

While the Red Cross offers a number of volunteer opportunities to match a wide range of interests and time commitments both in-person and virtually, recruitment efforts through Dog Ears Bookstore & Café include some of the following positions: 

Blood Donor Ambassador – Greet blood donors and help them sign in for their appointment and monitor their well-being after they have donated. Flexible schedule willing to commit to one shift per month. Must be at least 16 years old.

Disaster Action Team (DAT) Specialist – DAT members provide assistance to individuals and families who have been impacted by a home fire or other local disaster.

Disaster Services – Sheltering Volunteer – Sheltering volunteers support day-to-day activities within a shelter before, during and/or following a disaster, which can include working in reception, feeding, dormitory, information and other areas. 

Disaster Services – Feeding Volunteer – Supports efforts on a disaster relief operation to ensure food safety and proper food service delivery in a variety of work locations.

Shelter Resident Transition Caseworker – This position supports the mission of the American Red Cross by helping individuals and households more quickly transition from a shelter, thus alleviating human suffering by shortening the time of their disaster-caused displacement and jumpstarting their longer-term recovery.

For more information, grab a cup of coffee or contact RecruitWNY@redcross.org. Those interested in additional opportunities are encouraged to visit redcross.org/volunteer. 

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org.

Thank you, Erie County!

We would like to thank Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Erie County for their ongoing support of the arts in WNY, including programs offered here at Dog Ears Bookstore. Please know that your support is greatly appreciated!

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