The Gray Hair Series of monthly readings—co-sponsored by Hallwalls and Just Buffalo—spotlights primarily local—or formerly local—writers who have contributed to the literary life of Buffalo and Western New York for decades. This reading by Celeste Lawson (and a second poet to be announced) inaugurates the second season of this popular monthly series.

Celeste Lawson came to the world of poetry following her life as a dancer and choreographer, experiences that contribute to the texture and tone of her writing. For three consecutive years, 1987-1989, she received individual artist grants to support her work in the re-creation of ancient dances rooted in the traditions of North Africa and the Middle East as part of a special dance project in WNY. She also taught dance for several years at UB's Millard Fillmore College.

In 1997 Celeste published a collection of poems entitled I Was Born This Way, a reflection on her encounters with women from around the world when she traveled as a WNY delegate to the United Nations/NGO Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995.

That same year, the Urban Libraries Foundation, the American Academy of Poets, and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library—in honor of National Poetry Month and National Libraries week—recognized Celeste as Erie County's poet of the month. As part of that celebration she gave a reading at the Library's "Ring of Knowledge," accompanied by the legendary pianist, Al Tinney, bassist Rodney Appleby, and drummer Abdul Rachman. She considers that reading her most joyous artistic moment in her life so far.

Another fun partnership with the Public Library includes her service as one of judges for the International Mark Twain Writing Competition sponsored by Norton Publishers, for the recently discovered and unfinished work of Mark Twain, "A Murder, A Mystery and a Marriage."

Other events she considers high points in her artistic life include her contribution to El Museo's 10th-Anniversary catalogue on the work of William Y. Cooper, our community's premiere African-American visual artist; and when she was invited to read work by U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins, accompanied by original music composed and performed by students from the Williamsville High School orchestra, as part of their annual county-wide celebration of literature, music, and dance held in Kleinhans Music Hall.

For two years she served as the judge for the Canisius College Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. faculty/student poetry contest, and in 2006 was a guest reader in the Harlem Book Fair, now known as the WNY Book Fair. Twice a year Celeste gives poetry workshops to junior high and high school students as part the NCCJ "Anytown" retreat for youth development held at St. Bonaventure University.

Over the years Celeste has been an anchor poet in readings sponsored by Just Buffalo, the Screening Room, the Center for Inquiry, and other community groups. She has had poems, essays, and articles published in the Buffalo News, Artvoice, Buffalo Beat, Her Magazine, Earth's Daughters, and other regional publications. Currently she is a columnist with After50 News, a WNY monthly newspaper with a circulation of 60,000. She has been part of the Women of the Crooked Circle poetry group, and of the recently formed Pearls, a small group of poets writing under the tutelage of poet/professor, Jimmie Margaret Gilliam.

Earth's Daughters magazine, the oldest continuously published feminist literary arts periodical in the U.S., is currently celebrating its 37th year. Publication of Earth's Daughters magazine is made possible by a NYSCA Decentralization grant from the Arts Council in Buffalo & Erie County.

Reading from her new novel The Child
Hallwalls Cinema @ The Church, FREE

120 Clemens Hall, UB North Campus, FREE
A brief history of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power and its influence on policy, a tour through the ACT UP Oral History Project, and a video trailer for the feature documentary in progress.

Additional co-sponsorship support from UB Departments of Anthropology, Global Gender Studies, & Theater and Dance.

Sarah Schulman (Rat Bohemia, Shimmer) is an acclaimed novelist, playwright, and social historian. A lifelong political activist, Schulman has been involved in a number of strategic social movements, including Abortion Rights, ACT-UP, and, most recently, Lesbian Avengers. She is a cofounder of the Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival and is a prodigious contributor to both the mainstream and progressive press, including The New York Times, The Guardian, Interview, The Face, Mother Jones, Ms. Magazine, Village Voice, The Advocate, Cineaste, and Jump-Cut.

2007 marks the 15-year annivarsary of her work Empathy, of which a new critical edition was recently published by Arsenal Pulp Press. Her current play, Carson McCullers, is available from Playscripts, Inc. Schulman is Professor of English at CUNY College of Staten Island. She first read at Hallwalls 19 years ago—on November 4, 1988—as part of Hallwalls' first biannual Ways In Being Gay festival, on a stellar triple bill with Tim Miller and Eileen Myles.

Schulman's The Child (Carroll & Graff) is an absorbing novel about a teenager convicted of murder after seeing his on-line lover charged with pedophilia. Structured like a classic novel of crime and punishment, The Child explores what happens when Stew, a lonely 15-year-old boy, looks for and finds an adult boyfriend on line. In short order his lover is arrested in an Internet pedophilia sting and Stew's world is turned upside down. He's exposed to his family and community, leaving the outcast to fend for himself against forces intent on his destruction. Desperate and enraged, the confused Stew murders his nephew in a panic. The novel onsiders the impact of these events on all those involved—from the parents of the murdered child to Stew's staunchly Catholic parents and the attorneys working on his case. Carefully untangling the actions of an isolated teenager denied a natural outlet for his feelings during a critical time in his life, The Child is a haunting meditation on isolation and the prejudices of culture and family.

"Schulman crafts a piercing investigation into desire, mores and the law" (Publishers Weekly).

"One of our most articulate observers" (The Advocate).

"Unputdownable" (OUT Magazine).

"In true Schulman form, the book has a gleaming intelligence and chilled anger. It's beautifully blunt and plainspoken" (Ernest Hardy, LA WEEKLY).

"Schulman transitions seamlessly from her characters' intimate internal monologues to incisive narrative descriptions. She unabashedly paints pictures that are awkward, challenging and even disturbing to look at, but she does so with such a delicate, ethereal and insightful voice that readers have little choice but to look head-on" (Philadelphia Gay News).

"A thought-provoking story on a controversial subject. To her credit, Schulman forces the reader to question common societal assumptions, and the legal twist at the climax of the story is especially inspiring" (Library Journal).