March 22nd, 2010

Grub Street News

Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday from the extra-generous wine tasting room at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this e-mail in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.

Sign up for a writing workshop today!

Registration for our new Spring workshops is underway now. We're pleased to be offering some great new classes this term, including a cool poetry course called Poem Generator, a new fiction class called The Art of Point of View and our first-ever multi-week workshop on Writing for Children and Young Adults (daytime class). Of course, we have all your favorites as well, like Novel In Progress, Fiction I, Jumpstart Your Writing, Travel Writing, Your Entire Book, and many more! Call us at 617.695.0075 to sign up.

Department of Congratulations, Trenta Edition

Get ready for a long and impressive congratulatory list, folks! First up, Big-Gulp-sized congratulations to Grub instructor Jane Roper, who just sold her novel Eden Lake to a new indie press, Last Light Studio. We read the opening chapters of the book when Jane was a finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition, and cannot wait to read the rest. Another Grubbie, Erika Dreifus, also has a book coming out from Last Light--clearly, they have good taste. For all you writers out there who've ever been rejected from literary magazines (what? They reject people?), also check out Jane's recent humor piece in The Rumpus, which you can find here: http://therumpus.net/2010/03/funny-women-18-publishing-house/. We laughed out loud, and not only because it, ah, hit quite close to home. Another Grub instructor, Stuart Nadler has also just sold not one but two books, a story collection called The Book of Life and an untitled novel. Best of all, he sold them to Reagan Arthur at Reagan Arthur Books, and his agent is PJ Mark--both of whom will be participating in the Muse this year. Next, we're feeling Supersized pride that Grubbie Steve Ulfelder, an alum of Yael Goldstein's novel class, just sold his first book, Purgatory Chasm to St Martin's Press/Minotaur. Look for it on the shelves May 2011. Next, Grubbie Larry C. Kerpelman had a story published in the Spring 2010 issue of Green Prints, the magazine of garden writing. Titled "Johnny Lilyseed," the non-fiction article in the publication's 20th anniversary edition tells of a man who, on his own dime and on his own time, plants flowers and shrubs along the public right-of-way, for no other reason than to beautify his town.  Larry has participated in a number of Grub Street classes and workshops focusing on non-fiction. Following in the tradition of several Grubbies before them, Grub members Amin Ahmad and Marjan Kamali both found out that their stories were Top 25 finalists for Glimmer Train's December 2009 Fiction Open Award. We had to put down our 32-ounce latte when we heard the publication news of Grubbie Janet Cromer, whose narrative nonfiction book Professor Cromer Learns to Read: A Couple's New Life after Brain Injury came out in January. Janet said that she's "taken various classes at Grub Street, and incorporated the valuable feedback from the Manuscript Mart at Muse and the Marketplace into the book." Wonderful! Next, a quarter-pounder's worth of Grubbies with work in literary magazines: Drew Johnson's new story, Leave, is in the current issue of New England Review; Octavia Randolph's The Lamp of Truth is in Narrative; Amin Ahmad's essay that he workshopped in Alexis Rizzuto's Master Memoir class is in the current issue of The Harvard Review; and Melina McTigue's short-short "Unmarried" is in microchondria, the book that resulted from the Harvard Bookstore contest (http://harvard.com/events/press_release_random.html?id=39) in February. And finally, a Cheesecake-Factory-portion of praise for two future "residents": instructor Jim Scott won a month-long fellowship to the Millay Colony (www.millaycolony.org), and member Patrick Gabridge was named one of three Huntington Theatre Playwriting Fellows, where he'll be in residence for the next two years. Congrats to all!

Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Chris, Chip and Alexis

Grub Events

In addition to our ongoing workshops, Grub Street offers numerous writing-related events around town. See our website for a long-term view of all we do. Ready to sign up? Call us at 617.695.0075 and we'll get you on the list.

SEMINAR: Monday, March 22nd, 7-10pm, The Art of Column Writing
Instructor: Suzette Martinez Standring
With the explosion of blogs and websites, everyone is a columnist with a memory, opinion or skill to be shared. But creating compelling prose in 500 words or less is a special art. Vivid and insightful columns written in a unique voice catch an editor’s eye or a syndicate’s attention. The skills required to craft a taut and memorable column improve all types of writing. Learn the tips and techniques used by award-winning newspaper columnists to stand out and fuel a faithful readership. An expanded version of the “Hour of Power” seminar at the 2009 Muse and the Marketplace conference.
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

SEMINAR: Monday, March 22nd, 7-10pm, Crank the Tunes, Crank the Prose: Music as the Path to Literary Improvement
Instructor: Steve Almond
Have you ever wondered whether listening to music can improve your prose? It can. Certified Music Geek will explain how, using actual songs, by actual musicians, as his text. There will be a writing exercise, though it will not involve Steve doing his famous "Freebird" air guitar solo. (Unless the class begs).
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

SEMINAR: Monday, March 22nd, 7-10pm, Winning Things: An Evening of Inspirational Plotting
Instructor: Jill McDonough
There are a billion magazines out there that want to publish your work, places that want to give you fellowships and time to write and grant money to make it happen. Not a lot of money, sure, but enough. How can you get it? If you are an experienced writer and you wonder if you're ready to put yourself out there and try to publish some writing and win some stuff, come to this session. We'll get into the nitty gritty of writing proposals, ideas about where to find the perfect venue for your work, and strategies for dealing with the hassles and insecurities that keep us from setting our work loose in the world.
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

SEMINAR: Monday, March 22nd, 7-10pm, Crafting the Villain
Instructor: KL Pereira
Some of the best and most memorable characters in literature are villains, rough and tough monsters, sly and sexy femme fatales, and naughty and deceitful oligarchs. They unnerve and excite us, sending a chill down our spines, and striking fear into our hearts. Yet when creating our own villains we often fail to overtly acknowledge the complexity and moral ambiguity that compels them to cause mayhem, delegating their motivation to a need to cause evil for evil’s sake and resulting in two-dimensional baddies. In this one-day seminar we will discuss traditional and non-traditional villains, why they are an essential part of any juicy tale, and how we can develop truly sinister and captivating characters that will antagonize, needle, and provoke even the bravest reader.
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

FREE CLASS: Wednesday, March 24th, 12:30 PM - 1:15 PM, Brown Bag Lunch Series
Do you work downtown and want to fit some writing into your day? Or do you have a schedule that gives you free afternoons instead of evenings? Bring your lunch and come on over to Grub Street for a Brown Bag Writing Workshop – a series recently profiled in the Boston Globe. For 45 minutes, you’ll meet fellow writers and get your creative juices flowing with some cool writing exercises. Led by the awesome Sonya Chung (www.sonyachung.com). Best of all, you’ll leave lunch with some new ideas to ponder for the rest of your day, and beyond. No need to reserve a spot; just come to 160 Boylston Street, 4th Floor.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

READING AND OPEN MIC: Thursday, March 25th, 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM, Winter Season Showcase
Join Grub students from the Winter 2010 term, plus two of our award-winning instructors, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara and Tim Horvath, as they read (for 5 minutes each) from recent work. You’ll hear great fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and maybe even a screenplay or two. Open to all, but reading spots are available only to students who’ve taken courses, seminars or weekend workshops during the Winter 2010 term (January -March 2010). Everyone gets free snacks and drinks. Sign-ups begin around 8pm. A great event for current Grubbies and those who want to check us out. Bring friends!
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

TEEN PROGRAM: Saturday, March 27th, 10:00 PM - 3:00 PM YAWP (Young Adult Writers Program)
Are you – or do you know – a teen who likes to write poems, lyrics, stories, novels or screenplays? Come to YAWP, a free monthly teen writing workshop for Boston-area teens 12-17. We now offer two sessions of classes each YAWP Saturday: one from 10 AM to noon, followed by an hour for socializing, an open-mic reading, and lunch (we'll provide snacks, but you are encouraged to bring your own lunch), and another session of classes from 1 PM to 3 PM, followed by another open-mic reading. Each session includes the same classes, and you can participate in both so long as you take different classes. For example, you could take a poetry class in the morning session and a fiction class in the afternoon. All students MUST sign up in advance by e-mailing info@grubstreet.org or calling Chip at 617.695.0075. Tell us which class you'd like to join: fiction, poetry, or memoir.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

FREE MEMBER EVENT: Monday, March 29th, 9 - 10am, "Writers Groups, Colonies, and Conferences" Member Mondays in March
Kick start your writing week at Grub Street in Boston! From 9:00 – 10:00 on Monday mornings this March, find inspiration and connect with other Grub members. Each meeting will include a short period of intentional conversation about a specific topic as well as time to mingle. March 29th's topic: Writers Groups, Colonies, and Conferences. Members are fortunate to have the support of the Grub Street community, and many of you have expressed interest in forming writing groups. Let’s mingle with intention to connect with other writers and consider the possibility of sharing work. We’ll also talk about connecting beyond the Grub St community at colonies and conferences.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

FREE CLASS: Tuesday, March 30th, 12:30 PM - 1:15 PM, Brown Bag Lunch Series
Do you work downtown and want to fit some writing into your day? Or do you have a schedule that gives you free afternoons instead of evenings? Bring your lunch and come on over to Grub Street for a Brown Bag Writing Workshop – a series recently profiled in the Boston Globe. For 45 minutes, you’ll meet fellow writers and get your creative juices flowing with some cool writing exercises. Led by the inimitable Dan Pritchard. Best of all, you’ll leave lunch with some new ideas to ponder for the rest of your day and beyond. No need to reserve a spot; just come to 160 Boylston Street, 4th Floor.
FREE, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

Be sure to check out our events calendar for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.

Spreading the Love

Grub Street wants to promote YOU! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Our apologies in advance if we cannot fit you in. Please note that we do the best we can to evaluate requests, and do privilege requests from members, but can not be held responsible for the quality of these events and programs or the legitimacy of contests. We expect that readers will do their own due diligence before sending their work or their money to any individual or organization.

--READING: Monday, March 22nd, 2010, 7-9pm, Four Stories
The Evening’s Theme: "The Places We Go: Tales of Voyage and Discovery." Featuring readings by (Grub instructor) Ethan Gilsdorf, (Grubbies) Tara L. Masih and Ladette Randolph, and (Grub Instructor) Jeff Talarigo, with guest host Elizabeth Searle, plus the first-ever Four-Stories-Most-Fabulous-Shoes-Contest, and the Four Stories style of literary investigation: ask the best question, win a free drink! Check out http://www.fourstories.org for more info.
FREE, The Enormous Room, 567 Mass Avenue (Central Sq./Redline T-stop), Cambridge, MA 02139.

--NETWORKING: Wednesday, March 24th, 7:00 p.m, Media Chowder
Media Chowder, a happy hour group for writers, is co-hosting an event featuring David Warsh, former Boston Globe columnist. Warsh will talk about how writers can move from being slaves to the Media Empire to self-employed slaves using the Web. Event is being co-hosted by ASBPE and SPJ.
FREE, Sidney's Bar & Grille at Le Meridien, 20 Sidney St., Cambridge 02139.

--READING: Thursday, March 25th, 7pm, Martha Rhodes and (Grub instructor!) Anna Ross
Martha Rhodes is the author of three collections of poetry: At The Gate, Perfect Disappearance (winner of the Green Rose Prize), and Mother Quiet. Her poems have been widely published in such journals as Agni, American Poetry Review, Columbia, Fence, New England Review, Pleiades, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, and the Virginia Quarterly Review. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and at the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and is the director of Four Way Books in New York City. Anna Ross holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MFA from Columbia University. Her poetry has appeared in AGNI, The New Republic, The Paris Review, Salamander, and Southwest Review, among other journals, and her translations have appeared in Poetry Wales and Rattapallax. Her chapbook, Hawk Weather, was recently named the winner of the 2008 New Women's Voices Chapbook Prize from Finishing Line Press. She is a contributing editor for Guernica: A Magazine of Art and Politics, and teaches poetry and writing near her home in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
FREE, Suffolk University Poetry Center, Sawyer Library, 3rd Floor, 73 Tremont Street, Boston. Entrance in back on Tremont Place.

--FREE WORKSHOP: Tuesday, March 3oth, 7pm, Grub Street South at Buttonwood led by Nichole Bernier on "Novel Revision"
Novel revision can be overwhelming. How can you synthesize input from a variety of sources, and how do you keep track of the edits? The class will provide an overview of how to take it in steps, beginning with deeper concerns of theme, structure, character and chronology, and drilling down into to issues of dialogue, transitions, and refining sentence style. Nichole Bernier lives outside Boston and is revising her first novel. Reservations are requested and can be made by calling Buttonwood at 1-781-383-2665.
FREE, Buttonwood Books & Toys Shaw's Plaza, Rt.3A Cohasset, MA 02025.

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