Good news for those desperately yearning to find that Buffalo is not, in fact, a culturally dead city-the Exhibit X Fiction Series is now in its 5th year of welcoming writers, students and the community to participate in literature readings and events.
Founded in 2003 by Christina Milletti, a fiction writer and professor with the English department, Exhibit X first began as a poetics reading series. With the help of creative writing professor Dimitri Anastasopoulos, co-director of Exhibit X, the series has now expanded to feature modern innovative and experimental authors from both the U.S. and abroad.
Funded by the dean's office, the English department and the Morris Art Fellowship, Exhibit X, according to Anastasopoulos, is a series that works closely in conjunction with the Buffalo community.
"We've enlarged the program by making contacts, such as the Just Buffalo Literary Center, who runs the Babel series," Anastasopoulos said.
The Babel series works to bring internationally renowned authors to Buffalo, and is now, with the support of Talking Leaves bookstore, encompassed as part of the Exhibit X series, according to Anastaso Poulos.
Continuing the UB tradition that cultivated noted writers such as John Barth and Raymond Federman, Exibit X allows for up-and-coming modern writers to showcase their work, Anastasopoulos said.
"[Exhibit X] used to be mainly young American writers, but we've expanded in the last two years. We're bringing in five writers this year, in addition to the writers brought in by our affiliates," Anastasopoulos said.
Anastasopoulos mentioned some distinguished writers who have already been a part of the Exhibit X series, including Shelley Jackson, Lawrence Norfolk, and more recently, Bragi Olafsson (known also as the guitarist with Bjork's first band, The Sugarcubes).
One of the best facets of this program is, in Anastasopoulos's mind, the interaction that occurs between students and the writers, who often come to UB to speak with students in classes in addition to reading publicly downtown.
"My class recently read and discussed a book by Bragi Olafsson, and then people got to ask him about the book. One of the students had a suggestion for Olafsson about the ending, and we ended up discussing whether this was the proper ending or if there could there be another ending," Anastasopoulos said.
It's interesting when the author is right there in front of you and very open to these questions, Anastopoulos remarked.
Anastasopoulos discussed the creative dynamic between students and the writers that transpires at these workshops.
"The students come downtown, and will usually read the work beforehand, the novel or fiction, and get about an hour and a half of talking to the writers and asking them questions," he said. "The writers talk not only about their fiction, but also about their writing life, career, and how they make a living."
Free and open to the public, these events are often held at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center.
"We've only got a few more writers coming in," Anastasopoulos said. "Matthew Derby is giving a talk on Tuesday. He has one book called Super Flat Times, and he is a very good writer. Derby will be co-reading with poet Vijay Seshadri, who writes fiction in addition to poetry."
Anastasopoulos also discussed an event that will be hosted with the Morris Art Fellowship in the spring.
"We're inviting Robert Coover in, who is one of the most well renowned post-modern fiction writers of the last 30 years. He is very involved with electronic literature, hypertext, and performance pieces dealing with language and literature. He has been at the forefront of modern literature, and is going to be on campus for an entire week."
Anastasopoulos mentioned that Coover will be giving master-classes that people can sign up for, and will also be reading at the Albright Knox Art Gallery as part of the Gusto in the Gallery series in March.
"Exhibit X exists to bring new, unknown fiction writers and people who are more renowned to Buffalo," Anastasopoulos said. "One of the first writers Christina Milletti had in was Shelley Jackson-someone who is so well regarded now and who is getting readings all over the country."
Exhibit X, according to Anastasopoulos, is so successful because it encourages a coming-together between writers, students, faculty and the community.
"The great thing about the reading series is that its prime reason for being is to have sessions in which the students who are writing can also come in and see their work in relationship to writers," Anastosopoulos said. "The students see that they are real people who are working through the exact same issues.
" Educationally, it's just a fantastic opportunity. We're bringing fiction to Buffalo."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
