February 6th, 2012
"A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart."
—Julia Alvarez
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene brought to you every Monday by the staff member with the smoothest fox trot 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.
The 11th annual Muse & the Marketplace conference takes place May 5-6th at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, and features ninety-eight craft and publishing sessions with an amazing lineup of authors, twenty-five of whom are presenting full 1.25-hour craft classes at the conference for the first time.
This year, we're excited to be hosting 2 keynote addresses instead of one: the incomparable author Julia Alvarez as Sunday's "Muse" keynote speaker, and publishing visionary Richard Nash for Saturday's "Marketplace" address.
The Manuscript Mart, always one of the most popular elements of the conference, is a rare and immensely valuable opportunity to get time one-on-one with one of the 38 actively acquiring editors and agents attending the conference. The Manuscript Mart sells out extremely quickly, so if you are interested in participating, we urge you to sign up soon!
And once again we're offering our intimate 8-person Shop Talk Lunch Tables on Saturday, as a way for you to dine and talk meaningfully with your favorite authors, agents, and editors.
Questions? Difficulties? Kudos? Email Rowan at rowan@grubstreet.org or Sonya at sonya@grubstreet.org.
Literary agent Sorche Fairbank is back in Boston for one weekend, teaching her fantastic Hook and the Book class. There have been a ton of great success stories coming out of this class, including a recent deal that has us all reeling: Sorche signed one of her students, Sharron Hahn Luttrell, a few weeks after the class, and last November, they sold her story, Weekends With Daisy, to an imprint of Simon & Schuster for mid-six figures, sold a movie option for six figures, and have started to sell foreign rights at auction, too. Wow! Grub Street used to be able to offer this course every term, but Sorche has moved to New York and won't be able to teach the class again until the fall. Don't miss out on a great chance to learn from one of the best. Read more below or sign up on our website.
Don't miss Frances McCue, winner of the 2011 Grub Street National Book Prize in Poetry for The Bled (Factory Hollow Press) and head juror Elisa Gabbert for an evening of poetry and conversation. Frances will be visiting us from Seattle -- and Elisa is flying in all the way from Denver! -- as part of this year's festivities. Beginning at 6:30, we will have some wine and cheese before Elisa introduces Frances. Frances will read, take your questions about the poems and about the craft of poetry in general. Following the reading and Q&A, there will be a catered dinner and Frances will be available to sign books. This event is free and open to the public, but we only have a few spots left. See the "Grub Events" section below to claim your spot. To learn more about the Grub Street Book Prize and The Bled, visit our Book Prize page.
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Eve, Chris, Rowan and Sean
The P.S. Wait a minute. It's the first Monday of the month, and there's no Department of Congratulations in today's Rag. What's going on?
Don't worry. We had so much content for this week's newsletter that we decided to publish the DoC on February 12th instead. For all you lollygaggers with recent publications or honors, this gives you an extra week to tell us about your news! Just email whitney@grubstreet.org by February 11th.
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.
BOOK PRIZE RECEPTION: Friday, February 10th, 6:30-8:30pm, Frances McCue Reading & Reception
Join Frances McCue, winner of the 2011 Grub Street National Book Prize in Poetry for The Bled (Factory Hollow Press) and head juror Elisa Gabbert for an evening of poetry and conversation.
FREE, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, February 11th, 10:30am-5:30pm, Find Your Memoir
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.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
MEMBERS'-ONLY SEMINAR: Saturday, February 11th, 10:00am-12:30pm, The Poem and the Audience
This seminar will be a lively conversation about our readers. How do we imagine them? What delights would they take in our poems? In a desire to greet these benevolent, patient, welcoming consumers of our work, we'll look at ways to create poems that connect with our audiences. Led by Frances McCue, winner of the 2011 Grub Street National Book Prize in Poetry. Open only to Grub Street members.
Instructor: Frances McCue
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday-Sunday, February 11-12th, 10:00am-5:00pm, The Hook & The Book (How To Make Your Query Letter And First Five Pages Irresistible To An Agent)
Literary agent Sorche Fairbank’s most popular course, now only offered twice a year. Most literary agents receive at least one hundred query letters each week, yet respond positively to less than two percent. Decisions on writing samples (partials) are often made within the first five pages. Would yours make the cut? Do you know the secrets to writing a winning query? Join agent Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank of Fairbank Literary Representation for a weekend of intensive query and writing critique, lessons on the basics of a powerful synopsis, tips on how to stand out in a pile of queries, help on the first five pages, a review of a laundry list of Dos and Don’ts, and both group and one-on-one analysis of your submission package. By the time you leave on Sunday, you can expect to have a strong query letter that gets an agent’s attention, (or at least a strong framework), and first pages that sing.
Instructor: Sorche Fairbank
$220/$195 members,Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, February 11th, 9:30am-4:30pm, Short Memoir and Essays for Print and Radio
A one-day workshop focusing on creating powerful pieces under 800 words for print, and under 600 for radio.
Instructor: Judah Leblang
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, February 11th, 10:30am-5:30pm, 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.
Instructor: Micah Nathan
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, February 12th, 10:30-5:30pm, The Who, What, Where, and Why of eBooks
This class will provide all the basics for students interested in learning about eBooks. Everything from how to create your own eBook, to how to go about marketing and distributing them, to why are eBooks important in the first place will be covered in this course. Further, by the end of the course, each student will have created at least one eBook from one of their own manuscripts, and if desired, will have the opportunity to post it up for sale online.
Instructor: Steve Brykman
$115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, February 12th, 9:30am-4:30pm, Writing the Dark, Messy Matter
Be it in fiction or in nonfiction, the difficult, messy, complicated, bewildering, upsetting and chaotic moments can make for the most compelling reading. But how do we capture characters (real or fictionalized) grappling with the dark matter of their lives? In this one-day intensive workshop, we will show you how.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf and Ted Weesner
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join wait list.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Sunday, February 12th, 10:30am-5:30pm, Graphic Novel Basics: How to Write for the Drawn Story
Looking to write for graphic novels but don’t know where to begin? This one-day intensive course will introduce the medium of the graphic novel, a narrative work in which the story is conveyed using sequential art in a comics format. Through both lecture and in-class exercises we will examine the story structure and visual grammar of graphic novels, along with script formatting, pacing, and commonly used iconography. By the end of the course students should expect to have a solid understanding of how to write for the drawn story, along with take-home instructional handouts and a suggested reading list. No previous drawing experience is necessary to take this course. Grub students can get an exclusive discount on Final Draft graphic novel software. Please email rowan@grubstreet.org for information.
Instructor: Katherine Roy and Tim Stout (Special Guest)
$115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
DAYTIME SEMINAR: Friday, February 17th, 11:00am-2:00pm, Legal Issues in Self-Publishing and eBook Publishing
Navigating the maze of self-publishing and eBook publishing can be confusing, hectic, and overwhelming. Unfortunately there hasn't been a GPS invented yet that can help get through the litany of contract language and unfamiliar legal terms. This course will empower you with the basics of publishing on your own or in the eBook realm. By the end of the course, we will discuss the basics of copyright law, the basics of libel law, general legal terms that apply to writing and publishing, and trustworthy resources that can help solve potential legal problems that you might encounter. Time and interest permitting, we will also discuss how to apply many of these same principals to more traditional publishing contracts.
Instructor: Mitchell Bragg
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.
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: Wednesday, February 8th, 6pm, Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd
Tracy Kidder is the author of nine books of nonfiction, including The Soul of a New Machine, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award in 1982, House, Among Schoolchildren, Old Friends, Home Town, Mountains Beyond Mountains, and Strength in What Remains, which was a finalist for both the 2009 The National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Award. Richard Todd has worked as a magazine and book editor for more than 30 years. He was executive editor of Atlantic Monthly and published books under his own imprint at Houghton Mifflin. His essays and cultural criticism have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, The New York Times, Worth, and numerous other magazines. He is also author of The Thing Itself, published by Penguin USA.
Bright Family Screening Room at the Paramount Center, 559 Washington Street, Boston.
--READING AND DISCUSSION: Friday, February 10th, 7:00 PM Mary Johnson
Mary Johnson, author of An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa In Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life, will be discussing her memoir at Back Pages Books in Waltham, MA. She will be joined by William Orem in her conversation about "Spirituality in Literature." For more information, please visit http://www.maryjohnson.co.
FREE,
Back Pages Books in Waltham MA.
--SEMINAR: Saturday, Feb 11th, all day, Mystery Writers of America Novel-Writing Seminar MWA-U is a full-day writing seminar which teaches participants the skills needed to write a novel, from the idea stage to publication. The focus is on the craft of writing, and the college-level courses are taught by published writers and experienced teachers. For more info, visit https://www.mysterywriters.org/?q=MWA-University. Registration deadline is February 7th.
$50, The Boston Sheraton, Boston.
--READING: Sunday, February 19th, 3pm, Sarah McCoy, The Baker's Daughter
Sarah McCoy graduated from Virginia Tech with a BA in journalism and public relations and Old Dominion University with an MFA in creative writing fiction. She has taught writing at Old Dominion University and the University of Texas at El Paso. Her novels include The Time it Snowed in Puerto Rico and The Baker's Daughter, published on January 24, 2012.
FREE, The Concord Bookshop, 65 Main St., Concord, MA.
--CONFERENCE: Saturday, March 3rd, Betty Curtis Worcester County Young Writers’ Conference
St. John’s hosts the 22nd annual Betty Curtis Worcester County Young Writers’ Conference, which is open to all students grades 7 to 12. Young writers meet peers from all over Massachusetts, attend workshops and readings, and spend time writing in a supportive environment. Students participate in several small and large group sessions, choosing from poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and playwriting. Each group is led by a writer from the Worcester area. We are excited to announce keynote speaker J. Courtney Sullivan bestselling author of Maine and Commencement. The keynote address is free and open to the public and will begin at 4:00.
Preregistration is required to participate in this event. Visit www.stjohnshigh.org/wcywc for the full conference schedule and registration information. The deadline to register is February 10.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where like putting peyote in your peanut butter, we offer you the chance to win a prize. After disappearing for ten days, this author claimed amnesia brought on by her husband's infidelity. Email your answer to whitney@grubstreet.org. The first correct respondent wins a Starbucks gift card for a coffee treat.
Last week's trivia: Dorothy Parker and Clare Boothe Luce spent their careers embroiled in a bitter feud. When Parker was told Luce was kind to her inferiors, she famously snapped, "Where does she find them?" Winner: Ashley Cox.
