November 1st, 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 Closet of Regret 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.

Will you be #200? Buy your ticket for A Taste of Grub and find out

A Taste of Grub is on Friday, and we are only a few people away from 200 attendees! It's going to be a great party, and we'd love to see you there. If you buy your ticket today and are #200, we'll give you a special thank you at the event. A Taste of Grub features acclaimed authors Anita Shreve, Marianne Leone, Chuck Hogan and Regie Gibson and supports Grub Street's vital mission and programming. Tickets at http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=32. (P.S.: Can't decide until the last minute? We'll still be selling tickets at the door on Friday).

Round Three of our Literary Silent Auction

Don't forget to bid! It's the penultimate round of our online silent auction, and we do love a good opportunity to use the word "penultimate." We've got a killer lineup of items this week, including Manuscript Feedback Sessions with Elizabeth Weed, Rebecca Oliver and Lisa Grubka (who just happen to be some of our very favorite agents from the Muse), a gorgeous illustrated Bible by celebrated illustrator Bary Moser, and a sweet deal for golfing for four plus a cart at Blue Hill Country Club.

Department of Congratulations, G is for Gargantuan Edition

Sarah Smith, former Grub mystery writing teacher, has a teen ghostly thriller set in Boston and Brookline just out from Simon & Schuster.  The Other Side of Dark will celebrate one of its muses, the African Meeting House, at a party at the Brookline Public Library, Nov. 4, 5-7 PM.   Everyone is warmly invited to the party! Grubbie Sharon Bially had a great idea: she's is publishing her "blovel" Veronica's Nap, online, 1,000 words at a time. Read it in installments at http://veronicas-nap.com. Grub member Thomas Gagnon wrote in to tell us that since July, he has been writing articles about art exhibits in the South End for South End News. Grub student Sherene Aram has two good pieces of news. A story she wrote in the second week of Sue Williams' 6 weeks, 6 stories workshop is appearing in Life with Objects. Sherene also is the first runner-up in the Boston Book Festival's One City One Story alternate ending contest. Believe it or not, the other honorees in the One City One Story contest are also Grubbies: Stephanie Thurrott earned second-runner-up honors, and Carolyn Royce was crowned the winner of the contest! Read all their entries here: http://www.1c1s.tumblr.com/. Next, Grub member Dyan deNapoli’s book, The Great Penguin Rescue: 40,000 Penguins, a Devastating Oil Spill, and the Inspiring Story of the World’s Largest Animal Rescue, has been reviewed in the October 28th issue of The New York Review of Books. Simon & Schuster’s imprint Free Press released deNapoli’s book on October 26th. Steve Macone, a writer and a cartoonist, got his first artwork in the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2010/10/18/cartoons_20101011. Julie Lekstrom Himes’ story, “Dust,” was just nominated for Best American Mystery Stories by Fourteen Hills, in which it appeared originally.  The story came from a prompt from Ron McLean's 6 weeks 6 stories class. Grub student Steve Holt took Ethan Gilsdorf's 3-hour "Perfect Pitch" class at Grub Street, and thanks to his advice in the class, had his first essay published in the Globe Sunday Magazine. Steve says, "I'm just writing to give Ethan some credit for this within the halls of Grub Street and underscore the potential significance of even the one-night writing classes. With the payment for the essay combined with future opportunities that will arise from it, my class registration fee is being returned to me many times over." Michael Prager has thanks for Grub Street too--this time in the acknowledgements in his new book, Fat Boy Thin Man, which launched last month. Grub Instructor Suzette Martinez Standring won First Place in the Unpublished Essay category in the 2010 Royal Palm Literary Awards competition sponsored by the Florida Writers Association. "The Height of Power: Petite Women Speak of Stature," shares the experiences and challenges of women, 5'3 and under, who successfully navigate the world at armpit level. The essay encapsulated the concept for Standring's current book project, which offers studies, statistics and research as well as essays by petite women on business, dating, health, travel and fashion. Grub Instructor and member Amy Yelin's essay "Making a Case for the C-Word" was published on Errant Parent's Web site. Her piece "The Fine Art of Sloughing" is forthcoming in the New Plains Review, and her essay in the anthology Mamas and Papas got a very cool shout out by the book's editor on KPBS, national public radio in San Diego. Another Grubbie writing about a mom's life is Andrea Vij, whose essay "As Long as it Takes" is featured in the October issue of Literary Mama. Grub Street member Barbara Ross co-edited the anthology Thin Ice--Crime Stories by New England Writers which will be released November 12th and contains Barbara's story "Key West." And last but not least, Grub instructor  Tara Masih's story collection, Where the Dog Star Never Glows, is an award-winning finalist in the short story category of the “Best Books 2010” Awards, sponsored by USA Book News. Hooray to all!

Do you have writing news and want to be featured in the DoC? The first Monday of every month, we feature Grub Street members who have sent their good news to whitney@grubstreet.org. To be included, please send Whitney an email with information about your publication, award or fellowship. Limit your announcement to 60 words or less. Extra credit if the announcement is written in the third person, which is good practice for your writing anyway.

Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Chris, Chip, and Eve

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.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday-Sunday, November 13-14th, 9:00am-4:00pm, Developing Your Personal Brand: New Media Marketing for Writers
Novelists, poets, freelancers and writers around the world are benefiting from the possibilities of the Internet, building both their personal brand and at the same time driving visibility (and sales!) of their work. Writers face the same challenges as other entrepreneurs: competition; resource restrictions; the need to be first, the best or the most original to market; and, most importantly, the need to be innovative. Publishers are feeling the pinch which means that fewer and fewer writers will get “lucky” and score it big through traditional means. Instead, they need to engage in techniques that move them past hurdles and into the minds of their potential buyers. This class will explore both the basic tenets of what comprises a personal brand as well as to talk about the best ways to use new media tactics such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LibraryThing and much more.
Instructor: Crystal King
$220/$195 members, Grub Street headquarters.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday-Sunday, November 13-14th, 9:00am-4:00pm, MFA Prep Boot Camp
An MFA program can provide a writer with insight, time, and motivation. But when is the right time to apply? How does one choose the right program? How does one improve his or her chances of being admitted? Instructor James Scott (who received his MFA from Emerson College) has gathered tips and wisdom from MFA graduates, professors, and administrators around the country to explore common questions and anxieties of potential students. The weekend will include a workshop of student’s sample work, MFA application reader, discussions of programs and how to get the most from them, and a look at essays and essay questions. Students will leave with a greater understanding of the MFA process and an application piece better fit for a reviewer’s eye.
Instructor: James Scott
$220/$195 members, Grub Street headquarters.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday-Sunday, November 13-14th, 9:00am-4:00pm, Encountering the Past: How to Research and Write Your Historical Novel
Writing a novel is difficult enough to begin with, but the historical novel faces a slew of unique challenges on top it. How do you conduct research successfully? How much is historical accuracy to be protected at the expense of the story? How do you transform the glut of historical detail into a compelling plot? This seminar provides an overview of effective strategies for investigating the past, organizing information into a storyline, then bringing it to life with your prose.
Instructor: Cam Terwilliger
$220/$195 members, Grub Street headquarters.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, November 13th, 9:00am-4:00pm, What To Do Before You Debut
The time between signing your publishing contract and holding your book can easily slip away. Most book promotion now falls on the writer, but what to do and when to do it baffles debut and experienced authors. After "What To Do" you should be able to plan your pre-publication schedule and outline your promotion campaign. This seminar includes: planning websites, author photos, social media overview and decisions (including to blog or not to blog,) pros and cons of outside publicists, material you should have, connecting with writers, mailings and e-mailings, book launch parties, taking and rejecting advice, best practices for readings, Ms. Manners for writer’s relationships, your public persona and more. This class will be useful mostly for people who have an accepted published book in the pipeline or newly on the street. For an overview of what to do before your book finds a publisher, check out Grub Street’s other offerings.
Instructor: Randy Susan Meyers
$115/$95 members, Grub Street headquarters.

Be sure to check out our website 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. 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.

--DISCUSSION/SIGNING: Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010, Seth Harwood's Young Junius
Six-feet-tall, fourteen-year-old Young Junius sets out to find his brother's killer in a cluster of Boston's low-income housing towers -- prime drug-dealing territory. After committing a shooting to protect his friend, Junius finds himself with fifty dollars and instructions to run, but, shocked by the violence that he's created yet determined to see its consequences through, he refuses. (Special offer: Free workshop with Seth, "Industry Insider: A Conversation with a Published Author" at 5:15 before the reading: http://www.extension.harvard.edu/).
FREE, Harvard Coop Bookstore, Harvard Square.

--READING: Wednesday, November 3rd, 7pm, Best American Short Stories Panel Discussion
Harvard Book Store is excited to present a panel discussion on The Best American Short Stories 2010, this year′s contribution to the bestselling short story anthology series. Series editor Heidi Pitlor will moderate the discussion with this year′s guest editor, Richard Russo and contributors Brendan Mathews and Steve Almond.Edited by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author Richard Russo, this year’s collection boasts a satisfying “chorus of twenty stories that are by turns playful, ironic, somber, and meditative” (Wall Street Journal).
$10, Brattle Theatre 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge online at harvard.com.

--READING: Friday, November 5th, 7pm, The Roving Raconteurs
A night of humorous fiction and memoir by three local writers. The Roving Raconteurs—Dan Gewertz, Judah Leblang, and Randy Ross—bring a sharp, amused, heartfelt tone to autobiographical material. Through a series of short prose pieces, their search for love, sanity, and a really good garlic bagel often amuses, but the writing is far more than a series of punchlines. To purchase tickets, call 617.547.6789 ext. 1 or visit http://www.ccae.org/$10, The Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle St., Cambridge.

--READING: Tuesday, November 9th, 6pm, Jill McDonough, College Behind Bars: a Witter Bynner Reading
The notion of life behind bars is unfamiliar—and frightening—to most of us, and yet there are more than two million inmates in America’s prison population, or roughly one prisoner for every 142 Americans living on the outside. We'll hear poems by currently incarcerated student writers and their professor, Witter Bynner fellow Jill McDonough. McDonough will be joined by Lanny Kutakoff, Executive Director of Partakers, a non-profit dedicated to providing mentoring and education behind bars: Kutakoff and volunteers from Partakers will read the prisoners' poems. John Y. Cole, Director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, will open the program with remarks about the Library and the Witter Bynner Fellowships.
FREE, Boston Athenaeum, 10 1/2 Beacon Street, Boston.

--AUTHOR TALK: Tuesday, November 9th, 4 p.m., The Ad Club Book Club, featuring ANYWHERE by Emily Green
We love our iPhones, our iPads and every other sexy mobile gizmo we see, don’t we? Welcome to ANYWHERE, the emergence of ubiquitous digital connectivity. The rise of smarter portable devices, along with the explosive global expansion of mobility and broadband, is making us want to take our experiences with us wherever we go. Want to know what it’s going to mean for businesses, how fast you need to react, and what to do next? Join Emily Nagle Green, author of ANYWHERE: How Global Connectivity is Changing the Way We Do Business (McGraw-Hill, 2010) for a exciting peek into the future with useful advice you can put to work today.
$45 for Ad Club members, $60 for non-members.the Harvard Club, 364 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. Details and other upcoming Ad Club Book Club events at http://www.adclub.org/events?eventId=213427&EventViewMode=EventDetails

--FESTIVAL: Saturday, November 13th, 11:00am - 10:00pm, The Somerville News Writers' Festival
The Festival kicks off with a Book Fair from 11am - 4:30, where Grub Street will have a table. At 7pm join us as author Timothy Gager hosts an evening of readings by acclaimed authors and poets: Malachy McCourt, Sam Cornish, Jennifer Haigh , Steve Almond, Michelle Hoover, Ethan Gilsdorf, Fred Marchant, Diana Der-Hovanessian, David Ferry, Martha Collins and Douglas Holder, Rusty Barnes. Co-sponsored by Grub Street and Porter Square Books.
$10, The Center for Arts at the Armory, Somerville.

--FAIR: Sunday, November 14th, 12-3PM: Lit Mag Fair
Join the editors and contributors of AGNI, One Story, Ploughshares, Salamander and Redivider for a celebration of the latest issues of these literary magazines.
FREE, Newtonville Books.

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