by Hamilton Cochrane | Oct 14, 2025 | Staff
On October 21, at 7 PM, poet, fiction writer, and memoirist Ira Sukrungurang will read from his work as part of the Canisius Contemporary Writers Series.
Sukrungruang was born in Chicago to Thai immigrants. He earned his BA in English from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and his MFA from The Ohio State University. He is the author of four nonfiction books This Jade World (2021), Buddha’s Dog & Other Meditations (2018), Southside Buddhist (2014) and Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddhist Boy (2010), the short story collection The Melting Season (2016), and the poetry collection In Thailand It Is Night (2013). With friend Donna Jarrell, he co-edited two anthologies that examines the fat experience through a literary lens—What Are You Looking At? The First Fat Fiction Anthology (2003) and Scoot Over, Skinny: The Fat Nonfiction Anthology (2005). He is a former member of the Board of Trustees for the Association of Writers and Writing Program (AWP), and is currently on the Advisory Board of Machete, an imprint of The Ohio State University Press dedicated to publishing innovative nonfiction by authors who have been historically marginalized.
Sukrungruang is the recipient of the 2015 American Book Award for Southside Buddhist, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Nonfiction Literature, an Arts and Letters Fellowship, and the Anita Claire Scharf Award in Poetry. His work has appeared in many literary journals, including The Rumpus, American Poetry Review, The Sun, and Creative Nonfiction. He is the president of Sweet: A Literary Confection, a literary nonprofit organization, and is the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Creative Writing at Kenyon College.
A reception and book-signing will follow the reading.
To watch a livestream of the event, email series coordinator Mick Cochrane, cochrane@canisius.edu, who will send you a link.
You can learn more about Ira Sukrungurang on the writers series website:
www.canisius.edu/writers
by Hamilton Cochrane | Mar 18, 2025 | Staff
Buffalo’s poet laureate Aitina Fareed-Cooke
On Thursday, April 3, at 7 PM, in Grupp Fireside lounge, Aitina Fareed-Cooke, the poet laureate of Buffalo, will perform under the auspices of the Canisius Contemporary Writers Series.
A question-and-answer session and reception will follow. The event will be livestreamed: For a link, email series coordinator Mick Cochrane: cochrane@canisius.edu
Aitina Fareed-Cooke was born and raised in Buffalo and earned a BA in English and MA in education from Buffalo State University. She is a multifaceted artist—wife, mother, creative arts strategist, national recording artist, and Buffalo’s current poet laureate. She founded Get Fokus’d Productions, an award-winning media arts company dedicated to collaborating with emerging and professional artists to produce “human-first” narratives through digital storytelling. Among her awards are 43 North’s Ignite Buffalo People’s Choice Award, Buffalo State University’s Young Alumnus Achievement Award, a Citizens Bank Community Champion award, and the Arts Services Inc. Trailblazer of the Arts Award.
Founded with a grant from the John R. Oishei Foundation and continued through the Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professorship Program, the writer series is generously supported today by the Hassett, Scoma, and Lowery Endowments, and by gifts from its loyal patrons; cooperating partners are The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Just Buffalo Literary Center, and Talking Leaves Books.
Learn more about Aitina Fareed-Cooke and the writers series
Submitted by: Mick Cochrane, Professor, English
by Hamilton Cochrane | Mar 17, 2025 | Staff
Aidan Ryan ’14, creative writing, recently discussed his forthcoming first book I Am Here You Are Not I Love You (Univ. of Iowa Press) on the Fill to Capacity podcast, hosted by Pat Benincasa. The book is in part a biography of Ryan’s aunt and uncle, the visual artists Cindy Suffoletto and Andrew Topolski, and in part a memoir tracing their influence on Ryan’s own path into the arts and development as a writer.
The podcast episode, entitled “A Dialogue Across Time & Absence,” explores the turbulent and competitive New York art scene and touches on the topics of family, creativity, the sacrifices demanded by a life in the arts, and grief.
Listen to the episode on YouTube
Read more about Ryan’s book I Am Here You Are Not I Love You
Submitted by: Mick Cochrane, Professor, English
by Hamilton Cochrane | Mar 7, 2025 | Staff
On Feb. 26, students in Prof. Mick Cochrane’s All-College Honors seminar “Bob Dylan, American Genius” were treated to a performance by Buffalo musicians Cathy Carfagna and Dave Meinzer.
Carfagna and Meinzer played a selection of Dylan songs—including “Girl from the North Country,” “My Back Pages,” “Ballad of a Thin,” and “Like A Rolling Stone”—as well as several of their own compositions. They discussed Dylan’s growth as a performer and songwriter, his increasing musical sophistication, and his many influences, such as Woody Guthrie, Buddy Holly, and Chuck Berry. A special highlight was their performance of “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with additional original verses written by members of the seminar.
“It is one thing to listen to Dylan’s music through videos and sound files,” one student commented, “but to hear and see it played live was another experience entirely.” Another remarked, “It was very cool to hear a musician’s perspective!”
Meinzer is a member of The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame who has released his own songs on a number of CDs, most recently Tambourine. Carfagna has performed and released music both as a solo artist and as a member of several groups, including the Jazzabels, the Vores, and the Black Rock Beatles.
The event was made possible through the support of the Thomas Connelly Endowment.
Submitted by: Mick Cochrane, Professor, English
by Hamilton Cochrane | Feb 18, 2025 | Staff
On Saturday, March 1, at 1:00 p.m., Ryan Wolf ’12 will be signing copies of his new young adult novel, Songs For The Off Season, at Barnes and Noble on Niagara Falls Boulevard. Kirkus Reviews described the book as “a lyrical and sweet coming-of-age story,” a book that “creates an emotional tone that beckons to readers, inviting them to reflect on their own mortality and place in the world.”
Wolf is the author of three other young adult novels—Watches and Warnings, Control Room, and The Real Unreal—as well as the Creeper Critter Keepers chapter book series for children and Moving Through Walls and The Memory Vampires for middle graders. Wolf majored in creative writing, English, and communication studies at Canisius and earned his M.A. in the humanities from the University of Chicago.
You can read more about Ryan Wolf on his author website: https://www.ryanswolf.com
Submitted by: Mick Cochrane professor, English
