Artpark is welcoming writers Elisa Gabbert and Christina Vega-Westhoff this summer to participate in its annual literary residency.
Like past participants in this generative residency, Gabbert and Vega-Westhoff will enjoy summer-long access to Artpark, taking in the site’s 150 acres of natural beauty, dramatic views of the Niagara River and Gorge, and packed schedule of arts programming, drawing on these experiences to inform new or ongoing writing projects.
Gabbert is the author of seven collections of poetry, essays, and criticism: Any Person Is the Only Self (FSG, 2024); Normal Distance (Soft Skull, 2022); The Unreality of Memory & Other Essays (FSG, 2020); The Word Pretty (Black Ocean, 2018); L’Heure Bleue, or the Judy Poems (Black Ocean, 2016); The Self Unstable (Black Ocean, 2013); and The French Exit (Birds LLC, 2010). Any Person Is the Only Self, The Unreality of Memory and The Word Pretty were each named a New York Times Editors’ Choice. She writes the On Poetry column for the New York Times, and her work has appeared in Harper’s, The Paris Review, The Believer, the New York Review of Books, A Public Space, The Yale Review, and many other venues.
Vega-Westhoff is a poet, translator, choreographer, and educator living in Buffalo, NY. She is the author of Suelo Tide Cement (Nightboat, 2018). Her poetry, translations, and performance writing have appeared in Best American Experimental Writing, Words Without Borders, Emergency INDEX, and elsewhere. Recently she served as translator for the bilingual Stories that Cook: Art, Memories, and Recipes / Historias que Cocinan: Arte, Recuerdos, y Recetas (Genesee Valley Council on the Arts, 2024), which features recipes, stories, and art from migrant farmworker families and teachers and staff associated with migrant education programs in Western New York. Recipient of a 2025 New York State Choreographers Initiative grant, she teaches aerial dance at The Bird’s Nest Circus Arts and is a teaching artist with Just Buffalo Literary Center.
“The literary arts at Artpark have been an essential part of the organization’s legacy stretching back to our beginnings in 1974,” said Dave Wedekindt, Artpark president. “We are delighted to continue this tradition and welcome these two wonderful talents to be a part of this season.”
Artpark, the 150-acre New York State Park and celebrated cultural institution atop the Niagara Gorge in Lewiston is beginning another summer full of performances, festivals, and encounters with art and nature. In addition to Artpark’s popular series of touring concerts, additional highlights will include a new Cirque Festival, a special performance of Richard Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” with a cast of internationally touring opera singers and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, new visual arts programs for all ages, and much more. The current schedule is available at artpark.net.
Artpark’s Literary Residency began in 2023 with an ambitious cohort of nine residents, a mix of local and visiting poets and writers. Several of the visitors also performed or taught at other literary and cultural institutions in the Niagara-Erie-Genesee County cultural corridor, such as the Chautauqua Institution or Just Buffalo Literary Center.
Over the next two years, the residency evolved toward the current model, which pairs one visiting writer and one local writer. Program director and literary curator Aidan Ryan selects the visiting writer and a committee of Artpark staff and board volunteers selects the local writer from a pool of applicants.
“First, I hope that this residency offers an opportunity for working writers to draw invaluable time and inspiration from an extraordinary place,” said Ryan. “But I also hope this program continues to demonstrate that Artpark is one of the most dynamic nodes in the cultural zone of Western New York and Southern Ontario, both a local treasure and a welcoming stop for travelers at the intersection of major regions of the country and continent.”
Visit artpark.net for additional events and information.