October 3rd, 2011

Grub Street News

Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene brought to you every Monday from the secret room behind the bookshelf at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this email in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.

An Evening With Grub Street

Mingle, nosh, clink glasses and enjoy readings by three fantastic authors! Our annual fall gala, An Evening With Grub Street, is coming up on October 25th at 7pm, and features readings by Gregory Maguire, Anita Shreve and Tayari Jones. The event takes place at Mohr & McPherson gallery, and all proceeds benefit Grub Street's programming and outreach. Tickets are complimentary for members of the Directors' Circle, and can also be purchased online. Hope to see you there!

The Grub Street Book Prize Ups Award to $5,000!

We are thrilled to announce that Grub Street has increased the prize money for its 2012 Fiction Prize from $1,000 to $5,000, thereby solidifying the prize’s reputation as a major national literary award. The 2012 Prize will be given to an American writer of fiction who lives outside New England and who is publishing beyond his or her first book. (First books are not eligible). In addition to receiving the $5,000 award, the winner will give a public reading on May 4th, 2012 to kick off the annual Muse and the Marketplace literary conference. The postmark deadline for submissions is fast-approaching: November 1, 2011! See submission guidelines.

The purpose of the Grub Street Book Prize is to recognize the work of an author who as demonstrated a commitment to his or her craft, but who may not be widely known in the Boston area. Though there are a number of worthy and nationally recognized first book prizes, few opportunities are available for authors in early or mid-career. For this reason, the Grub Street Book Prize seeks to provide Boston readers and writers access to the incredible work of regionally and culturally diverse authors. Recent fiction winners include Gina Ochsner, Vestal McIntyre, Alan Cheuse, Joshua Furst and Sheri Joseph. We remain ever-grateful to the anonymous donor who makes this prize possible.

Department of Congratulations, Just Call Me Big Daddy Edition

As always, lots of great news to report this month.  First up, some news from our members.  Director's Circle member Wendy Polins celebrated the publication of her novel, Fare Forward, this past month.  Wendy has had several great readings so far, and has generously donated a portion of the proceeds of her novel sales to Grub Street's YAWP Program. Member Lynne Weiss is happy that her piece describing a visit to the DMZ between North and South Korea will appear in the Sept. 28 Common On-Line, an exciting new journal out of Amherst College whose mission is to convey "a modern sense of place" through stories, poems, essays, and images. Randy Ross, a long-time Grubbie, is a finalist in the 2011 Drum/Side B Dual Publication Award. His short story "One Day in Thailand" will be published on the Drum Web site and in B Side Magazine. Robert Oakes has a flash fiction story, "They're Going To Get Rid of Your Piano, You Know", live at Bartleby Snopes.  Joyce Hager had an essay published at http://www.more.com/health/perimenopause-menopause/new-pose.  Sarah McCraw Crow's short story Flight won first place in So to Speak Journal's 2011 fiction contest. So to Speak is a literary magazine with a feminist slant from George Mason University. David Kingsbury's essay "What I See" has been published in the fall/winter 2011/12 issue of Magnets and Ladders, an on-line journal of fiction, poetry and memoir by writers with disabilities. Atinuke Diver has a piece called "My Big, Fat, Racially Segregated Wedding" coming out in Wedding Nouveau Magazine today. Rochelle Melander's Write-A-Thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days (And Live to Tell About It) will be published by Writer's Digest Books this month. Mary Johnson's new memoir, An Unquenchable Thirst, was just released in September. 

Next, some great news out of our classrooms.   After attending Tracy Mayor's session "Where to Publish Your Parenting Work" at the 2011 Muse & the Marketplace, Meganne Fabrega sold a "Review" article to Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers. "Flights of Fancy" will appear in their Fall 2011 issue. Scott Blagden just finished up a manuscript consultation with Lisa Borders, and said "I would recommend her to anyone.  She helped me so much that I got an agent and an offer last week for my debut YA novel Dear Life, You Suck from Harcourt Children’s Books!" Former board member and current Novel Incubator student Marc Foster heard a few weeks ago that his story "Shoe Dogs" was picked up by The South Carolina Review. Marc says that, "after twenty-one drafts, a Mount Monadnock of rejection slips, and the aid of an all-star list of Boston-area luminaries," he's "psyched the piece found a home." Linda K. Wertheimer just got word that Tiferet, a literary journal, has given her essay an honorable mention in its 2011 Nonfiction Writing Contest. Called "Jew Girl," the essay was an excerpt from a memoir about grief and faith. Linda says that "Jessica Keener helped me immensely, and I also tried out some of the material on fellow Grubbies during a recent open mic Showcase night."  Amy Rodriguez's essay, "Lift Off" (subtitled: there's nothing to fear but fear itself...except flying with small children), was published in last month's errant parent.  Amy wrote "Lift Off" in the first class she took at Grub.

Several of our members are celebrating recent publications with public readings.  Tom MacDonald, a Braintree native, recently published his first book, a crime novel called The Charlestown Connection, which he signed at the Barnes & Noble in Hingham. The book, released on Aug. 1 by Florida-based independent Oceanview Publishing, features a former Boston College football player, half-Irish, half-Native American, who uncovers an art forgery ring while investigating the stabbing death of his godfather in a housing project in Charlestown. Margaret Holmes just read her work, out in the University of Kentucky’s Limestone, at a reception in Lexington, KY  on September 29th. And Sandra Kohler will be reading from her new book, Improbable Music, in the first Chapter & Verse reading of the season on Friday, October 7th, at 7:30 pm at the Loring-Greenough House, Jamaica Plain.

And last but never least, some great news from our instructors.  Creative non-fiction instructor Amy Yelin will have an essay in Slash Coleman's forthcoming anthology tentatively titled, "Generation H." This will be Amy's third publication in an anthology and she is particularly excited about this one as the theme is close to her heart and her memoir-in-progress about the effects of history and silence from one generation to the next. Magpies, Muse guest authorLynne Barrett's new collection of short stories, is now out from Carnegie Mellon.  Lynne will be reading Oct. 27th at Porter Square Books, and Oct. 5th at The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley.  Lynne's essay "What Editors Want," originally published by The Review Review, was republished in Glimmer Train's Sept. Bulletin.

Huge congratulations and a round of applause for all!  You make us proud. 

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 fill out our brand new Congratulations Form (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/congratulations) or kick it old school and 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, Eve, Chris, Rowan and Sean

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.

SEMINAR: Thursday, October 6th, 6:30-9:30pm, Promoting the Nonfiction Book
If you're about to publish a nonfiction book, you've probably got questions about how to best publicize it, and you’re probably wondering how soon to begin your PR campaign, and which ideas work best. Whether you have a big or small publisher, or chose self-publishing, this seminar will outline both traditional and non-traditional methods to identify, reach and build a target audience in various potential book-buying communities. We'll discuss planning and executing a master timeline for book promotion; setting up a promotional budget; creating a book tour (and not just at bookstores but using non-traditional venues); brainstorming special contests, promotions and giveaways unique to your book; establishing yourself as an expert and tying in your book to current events; writing tie-in op-eds and commentaries; pitching yourself to traditional media like print, TV and radio; creating a website and DIY book trailer; and jumping on social media to develop a fan base and create buzz. We'll also look at what your publisher should do and what you can do, and the problems that self-publishing creates (and how to work around them). Come with questions.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
$65/ $50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

SEMINAR: Thursday, October 6th, 6:30-9:30pm, Social Media for Writers
You know you should be tweeting, but you don’t know where to start. You’re not even sure how Twitter – or the many other social networking sites out there – will help your writing career (let alone your craft). In this very practical and generative seminar, literary agent Lauren MacLeod will guide you through the world of social media and explain how and why it works for aspiring, emerging and established writers. If you don’t have a Twitter account yet, you’ll sign up for one this very night with Lauren’s help; by the end of the night, everyone will have tweeted something and gained at least 12 followers. You will come away empowered with the “do’s and don’ts” of social media and gain some understanding not just of how to do it, but how to do it well. If you're able, please bring a laptop or an iPad to class.
Instructor: Lauren E. MacLeod
*1 Spot Left!*
$65/ $50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

SEMINAR: Thursday, October 6th, 6:30-9:30pm, Surviving the Slush Pile
Ever wonder what happens after you click submit and your story is sent through cyberspace to a literary magazine? This course, led by a journal editor and author, will take you through the maze of the submissions process from submissions peccadilloes to editorial hallelujahs. We’ll take a close look at opening lines and final paragraphs through the lens of narrative; and we’ll also talk about cover letters, bios, and story format. Relying on exercises and prompts, our focus in the second half will be on stirring up our creative minds and sending you – and your work, into the world of publication.
Instructor: Catherine Parnell
*4 Spots Left!*
$65/ $50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

SEMINAR: Thursday, October 6th, 6:30-9:30pm, Poetry for Prose Writers
Even if you have never written a line of poetry, and never intend to, your writing can benefit from many of the techniques regularly employed by poets: attention to detail, word choice, elevated language, and most of all, concision. We will read work by poets including Terrance Hayes, Jim Daniels, and Margaret Gibson, and do prose writing exercises based on poems. You will come away with a new sense of how to structure other kinds of writing, from short stories to blog posts.
Instructor: Clara Silverstein
$65/ $50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

SEMINAR: Thursday, October 6th, 6:30-9:30pm, Writing Non-Fiction For a Trade Audience
Many scholars, scientists, naturalists, and even journalists dream of writing for a trade audience. But the leap from writing for your professional peers to writing for the public can be daunting. How do you learn to translate your research into an engaging story? What are the elements of a winning non-fiction book? How do you craft a proposal that will engage agents and editors? How can you learn to weave the elements of fiction – character, plot, suspense – into non-fiction. This session will cover some of the factors that can make almost any subject interesting to non-specialists. Please be prepared to read or give a very short one-page pitch about your work.
Instructor: Wendy Strothman
Level: Advanced
$65/ $50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, October 8th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Telling the Story: Perspective, Narration and Imagination
When point of view is done well, it evaporates into the background, allowing the reader to be enraptured by the story. But when point of view is done poorly, there’s nothing more destructive. In this seminar, we’ll tackle the strengths and weaknesses of various perspectives, determining which one best fits your story, and how to make the most of it. Additionally, we’ll illuminate broader issues of narration such as how to balance scene and summary, the role a good narrator plays, and the power of using your point of view character’s imagination.
Instructor: Cam Terwilliger
*2 Spots Left!*
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, October 8th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Getting Published: An Editor’s Guided Tour
Get an editor’s tips on submitting your work, going through the editing process, trends in publishing, and recommendations about where to send. We will focus first on demystifying the inner workings of magazines—including the life cycle of a manuscript and what editors love—and the contemporary publishing landscape: what magazines are looking for, the various types of magazines, online versus print publication, the editing process itself, and how to win an editor over. Next, we’ll move on to preparing you to successfully submit your fiction, essays, and poetry for publication. The second half of the day will involve hands-on work on your cover letters and poetry or prose. You will leave with a professional cover letter, critiqued opening pages, and a list of ten journals to which to submit.
Please bring a cover letter and set of poems or first three pages of an essay or story.
Instructor: Cara Blue Adams
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

FREE LUNCHTIME WRITING: Wednesday, October 12th, 12:30-1:15pm, 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 one of our award-winning instructors or ambassadors. Best of all, you’ll leave lunch with some new ideas to ponder for the rest of your day, and beyond. No need to RSVP-- just come!

SEMINAR: Friday, October 14th, 11:00am-2:00pm, Why This is the Best Time Ever to be a Writer Seeking Publication
A day of inspiring good news about writing better and getting published, including specific practical steps to navigate the turbulent, topsy turvy changes in the book business today. Among the questions we'll answer are: How has the balance of power shifted from the publisher to the author? Do you really still need a literary agent and if so, how do you get one? How do traditional publishers decide behind closed doors what to publish? What are the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing and which is better for you? Why do all types of traditional and self-publishing depend on author self-marketing and how do you do it? What is the new author platform, and how do you build one if you’re not a celebrity or best-selling author already? How has the internet changed writing and book publishing today? What is the reality versus the myths about the publishing business? Included will be focused presentation with facts and figures, time for Q&A, opportunity for participants to discuss specific works-in-progress for feedback, and other forms of information and advice.
Part of Grub Street’s 2011-2012 Lecture Series, sponsored by the NEA.
Instructor: Alan Rinzler
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, October 15th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Jumpstart Your Writing: Fiction Focus
This one-day weekend version of one of our most popular courses has a very clear mission: spend the day writing.
Instructor: Chip Cheek
Sorry, this class is sold out. Please click here to be put on a waiting list.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, October 15th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Snapshots: Short Personal Essays for Print and Broadcast
A one-day workshop focusing on creating powerful pieces under 800 words for print, and under 600 for radio. In the class, we'll look at examples of pieces from journals like 400 Words and Brevity, and discuss guidelines (based on Barbara Abercrombie's "Courage and Craft" and the instructor's own experiences writing for newspapers, regional magazines and public radio. We'll do writing exercises/write off various prompts, and get ideas for getting our work out into the world.
Instructor: Judah Leblang
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday-Sunday, October 15-16th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Line-By-Line
John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is the perfect novel. Each line is a model of economy, crafted with precision. On the first day of this class, we'll explore how Steinbeck structured his work to ensure each scene, every last line, had a purpose, and how it all came together to support one of the most memorable endings in literature. The following day, we'll apply the lessons learned from Steinbeck to the students' own work. Students should come to class with the novel, having read it beforehand, and email up to ten pages of their work-in-progress to be shared with the class.
Instructor: Amy MacKinnon
$220/$195 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, October 15th, 10:00am-5:00pm, I’ve Just Got to Write About This. . . But Now What?
Find yourself with a great story to tell—but not sure whether you want to write it as memoir or fiction? Writers before you have faced this challenge, and in this class we’ll look at work by people like John Edgar Wideman and Kathryn Harrison, who turned events in their own lives into both memoir and autobiographical fiction. We’ll look closely at the way the chosen form changed the story, and discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of writing in each form. We’ll then use these writers as inspiration for our own work, trying our hand in class at writing stories from our own lives into both memoir and fiction, and discussing what the process tells us. Students will leave class with a better understanding of their own levels of comfort with the risk and invention possible in each form and with a greater appreciation of all the possibilities inherent in their stories.
Instructor: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, October 16th, 10:00am-4:00pm, How to Complete a Great First Draft of Your Book
Everyone has a story within them, but the vast majority of working writers today, even someone like Stephen King, never succeeded in getting their first book into print. That first book resides permanently in a drawer, a so-called “practice novel.” The good news is that, by answering certain crucial questions at the outset, you can avoid the trap of a practice novel. This class is perfect for people with an idea for a book, fiction or non-fiction. We will test our book ideas against a series of crucial questions that you will be grateful you considered before you finished your draft.
Instructor: Peter Mountford
$100/$85 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Sunday, October 16th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Not Worlds Apart: The Art of Literary Translation
There is plenty of fantastic literature around the world that Americans never get to read because it is never translated. If you've studied a foreign language, however, then you know that translation is not such a simple task: for some words there is no exact counterpart, idioms are often completely different (not to mention grammatical structures), and subtlety of meaning is easily lost. In this workshop we will explore the difficulties and questions posed by translation (prose and poetry) but which can only be answered by diving in and getting your hands dirty. And the payoffs are tremendous. As one renowned writer has said, “The only way to truly understand a foreign work is to translate it.” As novelist Richard Powers notes, the aim of translation is "to show what else, other than homegrown sentences, a language might be able to say." So come explore this noble and satisfying art, not only expanding your own understanding of a work and your toolbox for your own writing, but infusing something important into our often blindingly dominant language and culture. Note: At least moderate proficiency in a foreign language (past or present: it comes back pretty quickly) required. Participants should also start looking for and bring to class a piece of literature (a story, essay, or some poems) from their preferred language that they are interested in translating, as well as a good XlanguageX-English dictionary.
Instructor: Eric Grunwald
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, October 16th, 10:00am-5:00pm, How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book: Section B
Books often start with a simple yearning to explore new territory: fascinating topics, characters who won’t leave you alone, a good story. But manuscripts get unwieldy, fast. One out of ten writers never finish their manuscripts because most first-time book writers get lost without good structure and planning. Mary Carroll Moore, award-winning author of 13 books in three genres and a PEN/Faulkner nominee, will guide you through a simple and successful book-writing process that can take your book from idea to publication, a process using a three-act structure that eases organization and makes a manuscript vivid and engaging to readers. Find out why Aristotle believed that three acts formed a perfect structure for all stories, why humans lean toward beginning, middle, and end, and why we crave the emotional catharsis of that format in literature too. For all levels of writers working on nonfiction, memoir, or novels, at any stage from seed idea to draft. Learn why strong structuring is the key to selling a book in today's competitive publishing industry.
Instructor: Mary Carroll Moore
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, October 16th, 10:00am-5:00pm, The Unreliable Narrator in Fiction
Your narrator, H—, suddenly kills his best friend, having carried on for years with said friend’s wife, and now must not only explain his crime, but explain, at that, why he had no other option. Or maybe H—, having killed his friend, has no memory of committing the crime in the first place, and must piece together from the wife’s testimony the sordid events that led him to it. Or perhaps H— has not killed his friend at all, yet still feels compelled to confess the “crime” to said friend’s surviving widow for reasons even he is unsure of himself. So deepens the rabbit-hole of first, third and even second-person narrative unreliability, perfected by Nabokov, meta-fictionalized by McEwan, diagnosed by Lydia Davis, and expanded by you. This one-night seminar will languish in the details of voice, interiority and the way in which a story is told in order to render what is going on behind and beneath the sentences as much or even more important than the sentences themselves.
Instructor: Adrian Van Young
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, October 16th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Epiphany and a Side Order of Meaning
If only it were as simple as ordering off a menu. Elevating our work from the personal to the universal—to some larger meaning that has your readers shaking their head in recognition and in amazement at your grand wisdom—can feel daunting. In this seminar geared toward writers of personal essay and memoir, we’ll examine the work of authors who do it well, such as Bernard Cooper, Joan Didion, Abigail Thomas and others. We’ll discuss ways of working and revising that can help you unlock your own personal truths, and we'll try our hand at different writing exercises designed to get you working in that direction.
Instructor: Amy Yelin
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

SEMINAR: Friday, October 21st, 11:00am-2:00pm, Find Your Memoir
Finding the heart of your memoir can be vexing. What story do you want to tell? How do you tell it? How can you make your reader care about your life? This seminar will help writers who are beginning to write a memoir (or want to write a memoir) find a shape and form for their story. We will discuss how to narrow and frame your life experiences in memoir, and examine some common structures for telling the story, with the goal of ultimately helping you find the heart of what story to tell. Quick exercises will help you "map" your memoir's scope --- the time frame, theme, plot, character arc, and key moments. We will discuss chronological time vs. narrative time, and dilemmas of "truth" and memory as it relates to recovering and recreating the past. Please bring a brief and rough (under 300 word) summary of a real or potential memoir project.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

SEMINAR: Friday, October 21st, 11:00am-2:00pm, First Time Children's Book Authors/First Publications
Are you a new children’s book author, longing for the days when you see your name in print? In this seminar, editor/agent Maribeth Sanabria, whose clients include Grub’s own Beth Raisner Glass, will help you lay a foundation for getting your first publication credit. This seminar is designed for the beginning writer who has put pen to paper, but is unsure what to do next. From organization and tracking tips, to current market news, she will offer a nuts-and-bolts overview of the editor/agent stage of the process (submissions policies, cover letter writing, etc.) and take your questions on the burgeoning world of children’s book publishing. Tuition includes editorial review of first page of one of your manuscripts.
Instructor: Maribeth Sanabria
Sorry, this class is sold out. Please click here to be put on a waiting list.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, October 22nd, 10:00am-5:00pm, Plotting the Novel
Starting with Aristotle and working through three contemporary authors’ ideas about plotting, this course will offer several plot forms to help you rethink your novel’s structure and the vital connection between character and plot.
Instructor: Michelle Hoover
Sorry, this class is sold out. Please click here to be put on a waiting list.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, October 22nd, 10:00am-5:00pm, Developing Family Members as Characters
In this class, we'll use writing exercises to develop the characters that just happen to be our family members. We'll also read and discuss exceptional examples of family member characterization in published memoirs, and use these examples as models for our own writing. Come prepared with family stories and ready to write!
Instructor: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Sorry, this class is sold out. Please click here to be put on a waiting list.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, October 22nd, 10:00am-5:00pm, Get Unstuck: How to Fix, Patch, and Improve Your Plot
This one-day seminar covers the fundamentals of plotting and character development, with an eye toward getting past those "sticking points" that often slow the writing process. Every student will have their novel's structure analyzed, picked apart, and put back together. Participants must have a novel-length work underway--this is not designed for the beginning writer who "has an idea" and wants to shape it. This is also not designed for sensitive types. It's plumbing, folks. Prepare to hammer, solder, and sweat.
Class limited to 8. Please bring a 1-page plot synopsis, a list of characters, and three things you hate MOST about your current project.
Instructor: Micah Nathan
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ. Register Now. Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

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.

--VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY: Grub Street at the Boston Book Festival
The Boston Book Festival is looking for volunteers to work at Grub Street workshop sessions. Potential volunteers should e-mail Emilie Steinnagel (emilie@bostonbookfest.org), by NOON on Tuesday, 10/4, indicating that they want to work at Grub Street workshops at the BBF. They will work a single 4-hour shift at the BBF, and will be required to attend a single 2-hour BBF volunteer training. These are scheduled for 6-8pm on October 3, 4, 5, and 6 and 12-2pm on October 4.

--READING AND CELEBRATION: Saturday, October 15th, 7-9pm, A Sisters' Celebration in Honor of Jeanne Leiby
A Sisters' Celebration at the Griffin Museum of Photography, in honor of writer and The Southern Review JEANNE M. LEIBY (1965-2011) and her sister, ANNE LEIBY of Winchester. Featuring Christina Thompson, Sonya Larson, and Jan Freeman reading Leiby’s short story “Docks” and other prose and poetry from Sisters: An Anthology (Paris Press).  
FREE, The Griffin Museum of Photography, 67 Shore Road, Winchester, MA

--WRITING SPACE: Writer's Room of Boston
Are you looking for a quite place to write? The Writers’ Room of Boston is a nonprofit organization located on State St. in Downtown Boston and we are currently accepting new members.  Our mission supports the creation of literary and other written works by providing 24/7 access to an affordable, quiet, and safe workspace.   All writers, whether published or not, are encouraged to apply. The minimum residency is three months; membership costs $300 per quarter.  Please visit us at www.writersroomofboston.org for more information or contact us at info@writersroomofboston.org.