Tag Archives: Dog Ears

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 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.