September 13th, 2010
"We put on our stories before our clothes. . ."
— William Wenthe
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene sent out every Monday from the dorm room dramatists 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.
A few years ago, screenwriter and actress Marianne Leone Cooper took Alexis Rizzuto's non-fiction workshops at Grub Street. She had started a memoir about her son, Jesse, and was encouraged by her instructor, classmates and visiting agent Colleen Mohyde to finish it and seek publication. Grub Street will be co-hosting Marianne's debut reading at Porter Square Books TONIGHT at 7pm. Alexis Rizzuto, now an editor at Beacon Press, will introduce Marianne, and afterward we will gather for drinks and snacks at Tavern on the Square, a pub near the bookstore. Don't miss this chance to celebrate a true Grubbie succcess story and pick up a copy of Marianne's beautiful book. More details below.
Do you want to spend time on your writing this fall? Well, it's not too late! Many Grub workshops begin this week, but there's still room in some gems like Writing the Smart Page-Turner, Screenwriting II and Novel in Progress. Want to take a class that begins later in the term? Check out Writing From Real Life, 6 Weeks, 6 Essays, and Writing Horror, Making Monsters, all starting in October. Visit our website to register online today. Interested in self-publishing? Be sure to check out Think Small, Think Smart: How to Publish Beyond the Big Houses, a one-night seminar focused on the changing publishing landscape.
It's Grub Street's first foray into full-length classes at our South Shore location, Buttonwood Books, and this class is not to be missed! Solving Novel Problems course description: Are you fifty pages in and losing your way? Do you have a first draft that doesn’t quite sing? Every novel offers puzzles for the writer to solve. Early in writing a novel, you must choose the right point of view for the story and which characters will have a voice. Along the way, you may be plagued by two-dimensional characters, stale dialogue, weak plot lines, or perhaps a setting that doesn’t support your novel’s themes and premise. In this eight-week course, you’ll learn to examine key aspects of craft to be sure your story structure is strong. Through lecture, discussion, and exercises using your own manuscript, novelist Lynne Griffin will help you dig to the heart of your story.
8 Mondays, 7:00pm-10:00pm at Buttonwood Books. Begins September 27th. Register now.
It's back in all its chocolatey, literary glory: A Taste of Grub! The event takes place on Friday, November 5th at the State Room overlooking the stunning Boston city skyline. Join us for a night of hors d'oeuvres, wine, and literary tastings! We're excited to be hosting our fifth annual Literary Silent Auction and our Third Annual Postcard Auction, featuring original artwork and writings from prominent authors, including Chuck Palahniuk, Susan Orlean, Arthur Golden, Lorrie Moore, Andrea Barrett, Robert Pinsky, Lois Lowry and many more to be announced soon. The postcards will be online and available for bidding starting October 1st. Tickets are available for purchase by clicking here: http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=165.
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Chris, Chip, and Eve
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, September 20th, 7:00-10:00pm, Think Small, Think Smart: How to Publish Beyond the Big Houses
For many reasons, new and established writers are moving their publications to smaller presses or are even self-publishing. Join two industry professionals for an intensive discussion on alternatives to larger presses. Tara, an editor and author, will instruct on how to make yourself appealing to small presses, how to approach them, how to handle contract issues, how to market/promote, how to handle your book tour in line with your book distribution, and offer tips on making a reading successful. Glenna, who is a book designer and typesetter, will review the pros and cons of self-publishing and then explain how to proceed from the manuscript to the printed and bound book. This will include instruction on how to obtain a copyright and an ISBN, and the important steps of finding and working with a printer and the various other vendors you will need to self-publish. Both instructors will reveal tips and important information that you won’t learn anywhere else. For writers who have a manuscript to sell/publish or for writers with recent or upcoming publications. Co-taught with Glenna Collet. Limited to 18 students.
Instructor: Tara L. Masih
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, September 20th, 7:00-10:00pm, Writing Suspense: You Know It When You Feel It
In this 3-hour workshop we’ll talk about what makes suspense work. We’ll dissect the arc of suspense within a scene and within a novel. We’ll go through the variety of tools a writer can use to create suspense and to modulate it. Finally, we’ll discuss how to manage suspense in a book-length work.
Instructor: Hallie Ephron
*Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.* $65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, September 20th, 7:00-10:00pm, From Blog Post to Personal Essay
In the blog you write (or the blog you’ve imagined) you already have a record of the ideas you find most interesting. The next step is to develop them into fully realized literary explorations, and in this one-night seminar we’ll discuss how to do just that.
Instructor: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
*Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.* $65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
SEMINAR: Monday, September 20th, 7:00-10:00pm, Writing As Performance
A writer must constantly make choices, commit to them, and fully explore their possibilities. Yet it's so easy to judge our choices before we even see how they might work out. What if you could create a story in real time, if your characters took your ideas and developed them on their own? In this on-your-feet, fun-filled workshop we will practice the fundamentals of story using theater games and related writing exercises to generate ideas on the spot, create storylines, and build characters. Improv not only promotes the quick-thinking confidence that all writers need, but can help writers who edit too aggressively from the beginning, have trouble starting or finishing a story, or are dealing with writer's block. While some of the best humor can come from improv, this workshop will benefit anyone seeking to bring more spontaneity and joy to their craft.
Instructor: Amanda Keil
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.
PANEL: Tuesday, September 28th, 7:00pm, So You Want to Be A Writer?
Join three of Grub Street’s instructors, each of them recently-published authors in three different genres, for a frank and informative discussion about all aspects of the writing life. Bring your questions, your concerns and your curiosity as Ethan Gilsdorf (Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks) discusses narrative non-fiction, Jill McDonough (Habeus Corpus) discusses poetry, and Michelle Hoover (The Quickening) discusses the world of novels and short stories. Moderated by Grub Street’s artistic director, Christopher Castellani (A Kiss From Maddalena and The Saint of Lost Things). Each presenting author will read briefly from their work but spend most of the time offering advice, practical tips on craft and publicity, and answering audience questions.
FREE, Porter Square Books.
Be sure to check out our website for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
Grub Street wants to promote YOU! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Bonus points and undying gratitude for submitting your event info in the same format as the events below. 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 cannot 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, September 13th, 7pm, Marianne Leone reads from Knowing Jesse: A Mother's Story of Grief, Grace, and Everyday Bliss
"This book will break your heart. This book will make you angry. It will make you laugh and cry and cheer. But mostly, this book will lift you up." (Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle) Marianne Leone is an actress who appeared in The Sopranos, a screenwriter, and an essayist published in The Boston Globe. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two rescue dogs. Join Grub Street at Tavern on the Square after the reading for drinks and snacks with the author as we celebrate her fantastic book.
FREE, Porter Square Books.
--FESTIVAL: Salem Literary Festival, September 17-19
There's a great collection of events, workshops, and fun for the entire family this weekend, including many workshops led by Grub instructors and friends. Check out great workshops led by Ethan Gilsdorf, Steve Almond, Chip Cheek, Lynne Griffin, Katherine Howe, Amy MacKinnon, Jill McDonough, Brunonia Barry and more! The deadline for all-festival passes to workshops is on Thursday, September 16 at 9pm, so if you plan to attend more than two workshops, be sure to register today. You can sign up here: salemlitfest.com all fesival pass.
--READING SERIES: Monday, September 20th, 7pm, Four Stories Boston Fall 2010 Opening Night, "The Forbidden: Tales of transgressions, secrets, and sins"
Featuring readings by: Steven Beeber, author of the book The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk; Jennifer Haigh, author of the novels The Condition, Baker Towers , Mrs. Kimble and the forthcoming The Lost Gospel (August 2011); Carissa Halston, author of A Girl Named Charlie Lester; and two-time Pushcart-Prize nominee Randy Ross, writer with articles published in the Boston Phoenix, the Boston Herald and more. Hosted by Four Stories founder Tracy Slater. Plus mingling, eating, drinking, and the Four Stories style of literary investigation: ask the best question; win a free drink!
FREE, The Enormous Room, 567 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA.
--READING: Tuesday, September 28th, 7pm, U35 Poetry @ The Marliave: a Reading Series for Apostate Youth Aged 35 & Younger
Readers are Daniel Pritchard and Susan Barba. Daniel E. Pritchard is the founder of U35, founder and editor of The Critical Flame, managing editor of the journal Fulcrum, as well as a poet. His writing does or will appear in Fulcrum, 66: the Journal of Sonnet Studies,The Quarterly Conversation, The Contemporary Poetry Review, etc. Susan Barba is the editorial director of David R. Godine, Publisher, and the publisher of Black Sparrow Books. Her writing and translations of Armenian poetry have appeared in Boston Review, Words Without Borders, Ararat, and The Yalobusha Review.
FREE, The Marliave, 10 Bosworth Street, Boston.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where like being ashamed of your alter ego, we offer you the chance to win a prize. In this local author’s fourth novel the adulterous affair of Emma Bovary becomes a point of argument for two female characters. Name the author and novel. Email your answer and your postal address to whitney@grubstreet.org. First correct respondent wins a J.P. Licks gift card.
Last week's answer: Roberto Bolaño's By Night in Chile ends “And then the storm of shit begins.” Winner: Ellen Scheuermann.
Correction: In our quiz question two weeks ago, we listed five Shakespearean heroines who cross-dressed. There are actually seven: Portia, Nerissa and Jessica in Merchant of Venice; Viola in Twelfth Night; Imogen in Cymbeline; Julia in Two Gentlemen of Verona; and Rosalind in As You Like It. Thanks to Pam Wolfson for the additional names!