The Rag 3/26/12: Celebrate at Grub Goes...Up and take a Spring writing workshop with us

March 26th, 2012

In this issue

"Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head and as you get older, you become more skillful casting them. "

—Gore Vidal

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 greeting card writers who perfectly capture the complexities of your twisted love affairs 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.

Don't miss out: Spring Workshops start next week

Comfy chairs, elbow room, and a full slate of workshops lined up for spring! Classes at our new headquarters begin the week of April 2nd, so don't delay--reserve your spot today. Pick your genre below and see what's on offer on our website:
Short Fiction
The Novel
Creative Non-Fiction
Poetry
Screen & Playwriting
Young Adult & Children’s Literature
The Writing Life
Publishing & Promotion

Buy your tickets for Grub Goes...Up this Thursday

This Friday, Grub Goes...Up! We're celebrating our move in style, and have a full afternoon and evening of activities planned. Afternoon "tea and tours" is free, and tickets for Grub Goes...Up are only $10 for members and $15 for non-members. Be sure to check out the celebrity bartender schedule below so that you can have your favorite writer pour you a beer.

3-5pm: Tea and Tours (yes, please bring your kids!)
Downtown during the day and want to check out our new digs? From 3-5pm, we'll have family-friendly daytime activities including tea, tours of the new space, arts and crafts, and volunteer babysitters to watch the little ones. Bring your kids and party with the next generation of Grub Street! (P.S.: YAWP students, this is a perfect time for you to bring your parents by for a tour.)

5-6pm: VIP Toast
Anita Shreve, Arthur Golden and members of Grub Street's Board of Directors clink glasses and toast Grub's move to the iconic Steinway Building at Poe Corner. *Open only to members of the Director's Circle.*

6pm - 10pm: Grub Goes...Up!
Reserve your tickets now for a fun night featuring literary-themed cocktails, celebrity author bartenders, word game throw-downs, and special performances by the Boston Typewriter Orchestra.

Celebrity Author Bartending Schedule

6pm - 7PM	Brunonia Barry Arthur Golden (6-6:30) Mameve Medwed Pamela Painter Hank Phillippi Ryan (6:15-7pm) Anita Shreve Mako Yoshikawa
7pm – 8pm	Daphne Kalotay Margot Livesey Sue Miller Ladette Randolph Richard Russo
8pm-9pm	Jennifer Haigh Ann Hood Pagan Kennedy Bret Anthony Johnston

Grub Street Book Club's Next Selection: The Art of Fielding

The Grub Street Book Club's next pick will be the novel The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. Jonathan Franzen wrote that "reading The Art of Fielding is like watching a hugely gifted young shortstop: you keep waiting for the errors, but there are no errors. First novels this complete and consuming come along very, very seldom." All current Grub Street members are invited to join our next meeting on Saturday, May 12th from 12:00pm to 2:00pm. For more information or to join our book club mailing list, please contact sean@grubstreet.org.

Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Eve, Chris, Rowan, Sean and Lauren

The P.S. There are two great events going on this Wednesday. At lunchtime, join us at 12:30pm for our Brown Bag Writing Session, a free 45-minute writing workshop led by Shuchi Saraswat. That night, come back for our Winter Season Showcase open mike featuring readers from our winter term. All details below.

Muse Spotlights

For the next two months, The Rag will be spotlighting sessions from our annual conference, The Muse and the Marketplace. We hope you’ll be able to enjoy these sessions in person the weekend of May 5th & 6th at the Park Plaza Hotel. For all details, including registration info, go to www.museandthemarketplace.com.

"Muse" Spotlight: So we got a little burned by Hollywood last year when James Franco had to pull out of our conference a week before the event, but we are determined not to hold that against James or other celebrities. This year, internationally-acclaimed film actor and producer Alessandro Nivola (Junebug, Laurel Canyon, Bomb) will join us for TWO sessions, and we’re very excited to meet him. On Sunday, May 6th, he will share his thoughts on what makes characters compelling enough for an actor/producer to fall in love with them and want to bring their lives to the screen. He will also talk about the books and films that inspire him, what he's looking for when he scouts novels, stories, and non-fiction to produce, and a little bit about the mysterious process that results in a film adaptation. He will be interviewed by author Stephen McCauley, who has seen three of his books (The Object of My Affection, The Easy Way Out, and True Enough) made into feature films in the U.S. and in France. Sunday’s talk will be called, “Would Your Book Make a Good Film?” On Saturday, Mr. Nivola will read participant manuscripts in the “Literary Idol: Star Author Edition,” featuring the panel of guest judges Elinor Lipman, Mameve Medwed and Anita Shreve. Expect paparazzi.

"Marketplace" Spotlight: We have just added one new agent to our Manuscript Mart: Seth Fishman of the Gernert Company, who will be a part of our conference for the first time. Seth joined Gernert after beginning his career as an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. in 2005. Born in Midland, Texas, he graduated from Princeton University and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. His interests are wide-ranging, but they boil down in particular to literary and commercial fiction, popular (fun) science, young adult, humor, sci-fi/fantasy and graphic novels (of both a traditional and literary bent). His clients include: Tea Obreht, Maggie Koerth-Baker, Erik Bergstrom, Molly Crabapple, Theo Ellsworth, Shawn Goodman (2009 Delacorte Prize winner), Ted Kosmatka, Keren Landman, Will McIntosh, Matthew Olshan and Nate Powell. Looking forward to meeting you, Seth!

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: Monday, March 26th, 6:00-9:00pm, Polishing Your PR Skills: Press Release and Pitch-Crafting Workshop
You know what a press release is and what it’s used for, but can you write one that works? How about a press pitch, a review request, an “about” blurb or your book’s jacket copy? Most authors need to hone these skills. This workshop will lay out the fundamentals of PR-writing and provide good examples as models. It’ll give everybody a chance to draft a few pieces in a workshop environment and have them critiqued by a pro.
Instructor: Sharon Bially
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Monday, March 26th, 6:30-9:30pm, Crafting the Pitch Letter for Nonfiction Projects
In this seminar, you will learn how to write killer pitch letters (AKA “query letters” or “cover letters”) for submitting essays, op-eds, articles and feature stories to editors of magazines, newspapers, literary magazines, and online publications, and for submitting nonfiction book proposals to agents.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join the waiting list.

SEMINAR: Monday, March 26th, 6:30-9:30pm, Muse and the Marketplace 101: Hone Your Networking Skills Before the Big Conference
A veteran journalist, who’s also an experienced conference schmoozer and former public speaking instructor, will give tips on how to not only survive a huge writers’ conference but come away with contacts for a lifetime.
Instructor: Linda K. Wertheimer
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join the waiting list.

OPEN MIC: Wednesday, March 28th, 7:00-9:00pm, Winter Season Showcase
Join Grub students from the winter 2012 term, plus two of our very own Grub instructors, Catherine Parnell and Katrin Schumann, as they read (for 5 minutes each) from recent work. You'll hear great fiction, non-fiction, poetry and maybe even a screenplay. Open only to students who've taken courses, seminars or weekend workshops in the winter term. Limited to 15 readers. Everyone gets free snacks and drinks. Sign-ups begin at 6:30pm. A great event for current Grubbies and those who want to check us out.
FREE, Grub Street HQ.

LUNCHTIME WRITING: Wednesday, March 28th, 12:30-1:15pm, Brown Bag Lunch Series - March
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!
Instructor: Shuchi Saraswat
FREE, Grub Street HQ.

PARTY! PARTY! PARTY! Friday, March 30th from 6:00pm, Grub Goes...Up!
We've revised our address, and we want you to help us celebrate. The literary party of the year takes place at our brand-new headquarters on the 5th floor of 162 Boylston Street in Boston. There'll be celebrity author bartenders, music, literary-themed drinks and appetizers, tours of the new space, and word game throwdowns all night long.
$15/$10 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Thursday, April 5th, 6:15pm-9:15pm, Writing and Selling Your Best Bar Stories
Do you have the memoir bug, but you’re not quite ready to tackle your life story? Let’s start smaller, and look at your life stories – the anecdotes you find yourself telling over and over at parties. In this seminar, we’ll look at published examples of short memoir pieces (800 words or less) and start to create our own through writing exercises and prompts. We’ll also discuss potential markets where we can try to place our mini-memoirs.
Instructor: Clavin Hennick
$65/$50 members,Grub Street HQ
SEMINAR: Thursday, April 5th, 6:30pm-9:30pm, Ask the Agent
In this Grub Street seminar, you will sit down with two accomplished literary agents to ask any question that's on your mind about the role of the agent and get an insider’s view on life inside a literary agency. You’ll learn how to pitch agents and how not to pitch them, how agents make decisions, how thebusiness works, what happens once you have an agent, how nonfiction projects get developed and more. Come with questions. The agents will tell all.
Instructor: Kathryn Beaumont and Katherine Flynn
$65/$50 members,Grub Street HQ
SEMINAR: Thursday, April 5th, 6:30pm-9:30pm, The Confident Writer
If you had more faith in your writing, what would you do? Submit more work to magazines? Finish that draft of your novel? Share your nonfiction in public? Receive critiques with delight? In a world where writers are often asked, "What novels have you published?" it can be difficult to build the confidence we need to progress. In this one-night seminar, we'll view our writing through an honest and encouraging lens, learning the art of positive self-talk and interpretation, while also finding ways to celebrate and inspire. Led by a writing teacher and psychology grad who has specialized in self-esteem, we'll practice tried and tested techniques including self-talk, community building, the praise sandwich, achievable goal-setting, arts activism, and alternative methods of showcasing our work. If possible, please come with two 500 word samples of your writing or excerpts from a longer piece, which you would be willing to share.
Instructor: Sue Williams
$65/$50 members,Grub Street HQ.
SEMINAR: Thursday, April 5th, 6:30pm-9:30pm, Rewriting is Writing: Investigating Revision
A masterful work of fiction often draws exclamations like, "I can't believe someone just sat down and wrote that." But what’s truer of the writing process is more like, "I can't believe there are people who persist through six humiliating years, twice that many drafts, all-encompassing self-doubt, and still produce a book at the end." Revision's difficulty is matched only by its necessity; it is almost always where the story or novel starts to become what it's meant to have been all along. Rare is the opportunity to study a work’s transformation from in progress to finished, and ask ourselves the questions, what changes did the writer make? Why? What implications do they have for the story? Is the revision a more successful story? Lucky for us, Wells Tower’s story “Retreat” offers us just such an opportunity. We’ll look at both versions of “Retreat,” published first in McSweeney’s #23, then again two years later, as a fairly different story, in McSweeney’s #30, and ask ourselves all of these questions. We’ll consider, as part of our discussion, parts of Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life, and ideas from psychoanalysis and the words the Ancient Greeks used for love. Familiarity with all of this material will be helpful, most especially if you’ve read either version of “Retreat” (there’s a slightly different version in Tower’s collection Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned). Feel free to come to class with a tale of your own experiences with revision; after all, we’re all in this together.
Instructor: Mary Medlin
$65/$50 members,Grub Street HQ

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.

--READING: Thursday, March 29th, Gregory Maguire and Kelly Link
Harvard Bookstore welcomes acclaimed authors Gregory Maguire (The Wicked Years series) and Kelly Link (Magic For Beginners, Pretty Monsters) for a reading to celebrate to release of their new titles with Madras Press. The reading will take place at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by a Q&A and signing. All net proceeds from the sales of Maguire's title, Tales Told in Oz, will benefit The Friends of West Hartford Library, and all net proceeds from the sales of Link's title, Stone Animals, will benefit The Fistula Foundation.
More information about the event can be found at http://www.harvard.com.

--READING: Sunday, April 1st, 7pm, Poetry Out Loud: A Salon at Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery will be hosting local poet Jessie Brown for an evening of poetry reading. Jessie will lead a workshop and participatory poetry performance, reading works from several poets now buried at Mount Auburn. Guests are encouraged to bring their own favorite works and practice the art of reading poetry aloud to the group. This evening is intended to stimulate creativity and forge new relationships in the local poetry community – for both writers and readers. This free event will take place in Mount Auburn’s Story Chapel. Additional information about the event is at: http://www.mountauburn.org/2012/poetry-out-loud-a-salon/.

--AWARD CEREMONY: Sunday, April 1st, 1:30pm, Hemingway & Winship Awards
Keynote Address by Andre Dubus III.
Hemingway Award winner: Teju Cole for Open City (Random House) Finalists: Amy Waldman, The Submission (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Stephanie Powell Watts, We Are Taking Only What We Need (BkMk Press). Honorable Mention Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding (Little, Brown) and Marjorie Hudson, Accidental Birds of the Carolinas (Press 53)
Winship/PEN New England Awards Fiction winner: Yannick Murphy, The Call (Harper Perennial). Poetry: Elizabeth Willis, Address (Wesleyan University Press). Nonfiction: Mitchell Zuckoff for Lost In Shangri-La (Harper).
FREE, JFK Presidential Library.

--READING: Tuesday, April 3rd, 7pm, Mnookin, Frank and Williams
Three great poets, one great event at one of Grub's favorite bookstores! Wendy Mnookin, Rebecca Morgan Frank and Leslie Williams will read at Newtonville Books' new location at 10 Langley Road in Newton Center. The reading--the first at the bookstore's new location-- will celebrate National Poetry Month. Come on out!
FREE, Newtonville Books.

Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where like the latest craze in allergy disco, Saturday Night Hay Fever, we offer you the chance to win a prize. This poet's vivid engravings, designed to accompany his poems, made him the world's first multimedia artist. Email your answer to whitney@grubstreet.org. The first correct respondent wins a Starbucks gift card for a coffee treat.

Last week's trivia: Robert Burns financed his immigration to Jamaica by selling a volume of his poetry. Unknown up to that point, the book was so successful he later became Ireland's national poet. Winner: Todd Monjar.