All events are free and open to the public. Times and locations are subject to change. Please check this page or call (585) 395-2503 for updates.
Sept. 10, 2025, 7:30 - 9 p.m. | Fannie Barrier Williams Liberal Arts Building
The Brockport Writers Forum: Sarah Freligh
The award-winning writer of poetry and prose kicks off the 2025 season of the Brockport Writers Forum.
Sarah Freligh is the author of seven books of prose and poetry, including most recently Hereafter–a 2024 collection of very short stories that add up to a novella, which Sara Hills has called “a gorgeous and devastating triumph”–and the 2025 story collection Other Emergencies, of which Leslie Pietrzyk has written, “You’re in the hands of a master here.” Freligh’s awards include fellowships in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. A former sportswriter, she lives in Rochester, NY.
Sept. 24, 2025, 7:30 - 9 p.m. | Fannie Barrier Williams Liberal Arts Building
The Brockport Writers Forum: Jack Wang
The novelist joins the Brockport Writers Forum.
Jack Wang is the award-winning author of the 2020 story collection We Two Alone and the 2025 novel The Riveter, of which The Toronto Star wrote, “This exhilarating debut is part cross-cultural romance and part underdog story, one that will have readers rooting for its memorable, indefatigable character.” The book was also a New Yorker “Best Books We Read This Week” choice. Originally from Vancouver, Wang is a professor of writing at Ithaca College.
We hope you can join us in person, but this event will also be viewable by livestream at this link.
Oct. 15, 2025, 7:30 - 9 p.m. | Fannie Barrier Williams Liberal Arts Building
The Brockport Writers Forum: Justin Murphy
The Rochester-based journalist and author joins the Brockport Writers Forum.
Justin Murphy is author of Your Children Are Very Greatly In Danger: School Segregation in Rochester, New York, published in 2022 by Cornell University Press. New York History has called the book “a must-read for anyone interested in school integration in general and the history of school integration in Rochester, New York, in particular.” For a dozen years he covered the education beat for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Murphy currently serves as research and communications coordinator with Our Local History, a Rochester area nonprofit focused on local civil rights history.
Nov. 5, 2025, 7:30 - 9 p.m. | Brockport Downtown (REOC)
The Brockport Writers Forum: Ama Codjoe
The distinguished poet presents the Earl Ingersoll Reading.
“How beautifully seen, tended, and rendered are our many Black lives under this poet’s exquisite gaze,” wrote Tracy K. Smith of Ama Codjoe’s collection Bluest Nude. Codjoe is a winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, a Whiting Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and a 2024 Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has appeared in journals including The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The Sun, and The Nation.
We hope you can join us in person, but this event will also be viewable by livestream at this link.
Presented with the support of the Ingersoll Family Foundation.
Nov. 19, 2025, 7:30 - 9 p.m. | Fannie Barrier Williams Liberal Arts Building
The Brockport Writers Forum: Sarah Cedeño
The author presents her debut collection of short stories.
Sarah Cedeño is an essayist, editor, teacher, and the author of the 2025 short story collection The Grand Scheme of Things. “I devoured these brilliant stories,” Robin Black wrote of the collection, which is set in a fictional college town on the Erie Canal. Cedeño’s first book, Not Something We Discuss Often, is a collection of personal essays that “you’ll return to again and again,” Jill Christman wrote. Her work has appeared in journals including Brevity, The Baltimore Review, The Rumpus, Hippocampus Magazine, and the Bellevue Literary Review. She lives in Brockport.
We hope you can join us in person, but if not, you can watch the livestream at this link.
Dec. 3, 2025, 6:30 - 9 p.m. | Fannie Barrier Williams Liberal Arts Building
The Brockport Writers Forum/English Club Open Mic
Our annual celebratory open mic night.
It’s the last week of classes! Join the Brockport Writers Forum and the English Club for a friendly, low-stress gathering to read and hear each other’s creative work. Bring a poem, short story, or essay and read a page or two, or just listen. And bring your friends–all are welcome.
We hope you can join us in person, but if not, you can watch the livestream at this link.