May 30th, 2012

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 (except this week, when it's going out on Wednesday) by the incorrigible busybodies 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.

Spaces are Filling Fast in Our Summer Workshops

It's summertime, and the writing is easy. This summer term, we have a record number of evening, morning, afternoon, and weekend workshops to choose from. Brand-new this summer are workshops like:

• Screenwriting II: 10 Weeks, 10 Scenes
• The Published Poem
• Creative Non-Fiction II
• Jumpstart Your Writing
• Writing for Children
• Reading Like a Writer

Of course, we've also got all the classics in fiction, novel writing, publishing & promotion, creative nonfiction, and more. To see the full list of summer offerings (and to search for the ideal class for you), go to http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=402. If you have questions or need help selecting a course, please call 617.695.0075 and any of our staff will be happy to assist you.

Launch Labs (deadline to apply: Wednesday, June 6th)

Do you have a book coming out in the next 12 months?  Are you feeling daunted about how to best promote it and yourself?   Grub Street is excited to announce the pilot of the Launch Lab program, an innovative approach to marketing one's book which places a high value on community, feedback, and experimentation.   For details: http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=2221. The deadline to apply is June 6th—don't miss out!

Scholarships, Scholarships, Scholarships. Come and Get'em.

Summer Open Houses

Our Daily Best

• The myth of writing for yourself
• The Seven Commandments of Highly Effective Writers
• Hey, do I need a copy editor?

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

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, May 31st, 6:30pm-9:30pm, Time Management for Writers: Section A
An intense seminar on finding the time to write, and using that time well. We'll talk about powerful personal habits, mastering distraction technology, when and how to give yourself a coffee break, and making the most of every writing minute.
Instructor: Ben H. Winters
$50/$65 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Thursday, May 31st, 6:00pm-9:00pm, How to Create an Irresistible Narrator
In this class, we'll examine the work of Ford, Salinger, Austen and others-- and try an in-class exercise-- in an effort to make sure your next narrator isn't just strong, but irresistible.
Instructor: Steve Almond
Sorry, this class is sold out. Please click here to be put on a waiting list.

SEMINAR: Thursday, May 31st, 6:15pm-9:15pm, Go Deeper, Baby: Writing Meaningful Erotica
In this one-night seminar, we'll celebrate erotic fiction looking at why it's both emotionally valuable and increasingly popular. Drawing on well-respected authors such as Anais Nin and Steve Almond, we'll explore what makes a sexy story sexy, while also tapping the transformational qualities of the genre. Come along with a willingness to be open about feelings and sensations, and you'll leave with a short, sexy story of your own. All sexual and gender identities warmly welcomed. Led by an instructor who regularly publishes erotica and views it as some of her most meaningful work.
Instructor: Sue Williams
$50/$65 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Thursday, May 31st, 6:30-9:30pm, 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. Join an industry professional, who has published with three indie presses, for an intensive discussion on alternatives to larger presses. Topics will include how to make yourself appealing to small presses, how to approach them, handle contract issues, market/promote, obtain blurbs and reviews, handle your book tour in line with your book distribution, and make your readings successful. Small press publishing has its challenges, but armed with this knowledge, you can make it work for you.
Instructor: Tara Masih
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Friday, June 1st, 11:00am-2:00pm, Time Management for Writers: Section B
An intense seminar on finding the time to write, and using that time well. We'll talk about powerful personal habits, mastering distraction technology, when and how to give yourself a coffee break, and making the most of every writing minute.
Instructor: Ben H. Winters
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 2nd, 10:00am-5:00pm, Developing Family Members as Characters
One of the most difficult tasks of the memoirist is learning to see family members as fully developed characters. As writers, we must set aside self-interest to understand our characters' motivations and allow them to live on the page. Only then will our characters have as much emotional reality for our readers as they do for us as writers. This is as true when our characters are our family members as it is for fictional characters-- only sometimes more difficult (as writers are human, too)! Fortunately, writing exercises can help. 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! Please note that while this class is intended primarily for the family memoirist, it is also appropriate for the writer of autobiographical fiction, and all exercises will be adaptable for both.
Instructor: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 2nd, 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. 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. 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.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 2nd, 9:30am-4:30pm, 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
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 2nd, 10:30am-5:30pm, 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. Through a series of fun directed writing exercises, we will explore the terrain of fiction: mining for material, constructing characters and settings, shaping vivid dialogue, understanding point of view, and finding your voice. We will discuss the process of writing and the strengths and weaknesses of the work we produce in class. We will read and discuss published stories in regards to craft, then write exercises inspired by the stories. A supportive and generative experience for both new and practicing writers.
Instructor: Shuchi Saraswat
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Thursday, June 7th, 6:30-9:30pm, Tell, Don't Show
Be a rebel and break an assumed rule of writing prose. “Showing”-- writing characterized by immediate, sensory details-- has always been the favorite among writing teachers, while “telling” is considered the naughty, irreverent sibling we’re instructed to avoid. And yet writers like Jonathan Franzen and Ernest Hemingway have created literary masterpieces that are largely “told.” What gives? In this class we’ll discuss the pros and cons of “telling,” and will discover how and when telling works. Bring a page of your own writing to learn why the telling in it works and how it can be improved.
Instructor: Jenn Scheck-Kahn
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Thursday, June 7th, 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, with a focus on developing your social media persona and effectively utilizing twitter, 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. Bringing a laptop or an iPad to class is strongly encouraged as the last third of the class will be used for practical application.
Instructor: Lauren MacLeod
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Thursday, June 7th, 6:30-9:30pm, Jumpstart Your Poetry
It's all too easy to fall into patterns in our writing. We find ourselves writing not only about the same subjects, but with the same style, using similar word choice, syntax and diction from poem to poem. In this workshop, we will do several free-writing exercises and explore how these free-writes can expand our choices in both new work and our efforts at revision. This is especially fun to do in a group, where the language each of us puts in the air helps fuel us all.
Instructor:Wendy Mnookin
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Thursday, June 7th, 6:30-9:30pm, Guerrilla Book Promotion
If you're about to publish a book -- fiction or nonfiction -- you've probably got questions about how to best publicize it. 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; getting your book into the hands of opinion leader, among other topics. 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.

SEMINAR: Thursday, June 7th, 6:15-9:15pm, Micro-Editing
Before an editor evaluates your manuscript’s themes, plot, characters, or voice, he or she judges its sentences. The best way to impress any reader is to write clear and efficient prose. Good sentence-level editing can increase the pace, enhance the description, and deepen the mood of your work. In short, it can make your writing more compelling. In this workshop, we will take apart and reassemble sentences and paragraphs from both fiction and nonfiction drafts. You will learn to read like an editor, to question every word and remove abstraction in order to take your writing to the next level.
Instructor: Michelle Seaton
$65/$50 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 9th, 10:30am-5:30pm, Writers Breaking Rules: Playing with Form in Creative Nonfiction
Are you bored with the traditional story line? Do you think a narrative arc is better left in the water? If you’re ready to take some risks as a creative nonfiction writer, you’re in good company. Many successful writers today push the boundaries of what we think of as conventional memoir or essay structure. We’ll spend time closely examining the brief essay, the lyric or braided essay, and excerpts from untraditional longer memoirs by authors such as Joan Wickersham, Abigail Thomas, Joann Beard and Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Then we’ll break some rules ourselves and try exercises where we play with our own writing. If you have a short piece that pushes boundaries, bring it along for workshopping.
Instructor: Amy Yelin
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 9th, 9:30am-4:30pm, 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 summary (no more than 200 words) of your real or potential memoir project, written in the third person as if it were book-jacket copy.
Instructor: Ethan Gilsdorf
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 9th, 10:30am-5:30pm, Molecules in the Inkwell: Infusing Writing with Science
Not focusing primarily on the genre of science fiction, instead this class will center on how science can be incorporated literally and metaphorically in writing across genres. Representative authors include Andrea Barrett, Mary Roach, Kimiko Hahn, Primo Levi, and Italo Calvino. In this workshop, we will plunder the pages of the Science Times and popular science magazines for the latest findings and metaphors to ignite our writing. Great for writers of short fiction, novels, non-fiction, and poetry.
Instructor: Tim Horvath
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 9th, 10:00am-5:00pm, How to Plan, Write, & 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.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 9th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Developing a Strong Voice in Memoir
Of all types of prose, memoir is perhaps the most inherently voice-driven. After all, the reader is essentially choosing to spend a lot of time with you, the author. Too often, the writer’s desire to be relatable on the page results in a watered-down, bland voice, when a distinctive voice is needed to keep the reader engaged. (As V.S. Pritchett put it, in memoir, you get no credit for the living—it’s all in how the living’s told.) So how can you find—and sharpen—your inner narrative voice? Will it be crisp like Didion? Humorously exaggerated like Sedaris? Lyrically gritty like Ballantine? In this day-long workshop, we’ll look at exceptional examples of voice in memoir and personal essays, and diagnose what makes them so successful. We’ll discuss ways to identify and amplify whatever yours is, working to make it even more distinctive. With exercises, we’ll develop that voice. Then we’ll work directly on our drafts, rewriting to punch up voice. Come prepared with an essay or chapter draft to work on and a sample of memoir writing (by yourself or another writer) you absolutely love.
Instructor: Alexandria Marzano Lesnevich
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Friday, June 15th, 11:00am-2:00pm, Making Images
What makes an image fresh, vivid, astonishing, memorable? What makes an image at all? In the first half of this seminar we'll take a hard look at some surprising and dazzling images in poetry and fiction to articulate a working definition of the image, to observe the choices involved in the making of great images, and to develop a list of image-driven strategies. In the seminar's second half we'll perform some exercises to practice and implement these strategies, and to rethink how we construct images in our own work. Participants are expected to bring an image that they would like to revise, which they'll work on and have the opportunity to share at the seminar's end.
Instructor: Scott Challener
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Friday, June 15th, 11:00am-2:00pm, Use Obsession to Jumpstart Your Writing
Most good writing-- whether fiction or non-fiction-- arises from a writer's obsessions. In this session, we'll discuss how to explore our obsessions on the page, without falling pray to self-absorption or sentiment. We'll start by looking at the work of Nick Hornby, Calvin Trillin, and other obsessive writers, and proceed to a broader discussion of passionate attachment. Large-group seminar; limited to 24 students.
Instructor: Steve Almond
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 16th, 10:00am-5:00pm, The Psychology of Strong Characters
The most memorable characters are driven by powerful forces of motivation, forces that simply won’t let them rest and that keep readers turning the pages. Jacqueline Sheehan is a New York Times bestselling author and a psychologist who applies basic psychology to all of her characters. In an atmosphere of exploration and support, you will create more compelling characters by revealing their fears, desires, and dreams. We’ll use a series of writing prompts that will challenge our characters to take actions to reveal the white hot core of your story. It’s a tall order, but it’s what all good stories are about.
Instructor: Jacqueline Sheehan
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 16th, 10:30am-5:30pm, Haiku Intensive
Often misrepresented or only partially understood, the heart of Haiku contains many lessons for poets in its compacted form: image, metaphor, enjambment, attention, word choice, and silence. This intensive will survey the history and core principles while reading ancient and contemporary examples. By the end of the day you will be equipped to incorporate the powerful discipline of haiku into your life, using it to hone your poetic practice and increase your daily awareness.
Instructor: Janaka Stucky
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 16th, 10:30am-5:30pm, Unruly Fictions
All successful fiction is somewhat unruly. Any story that sticks its talons into our brains, gets under our skins, making us ponder or sending us sprawling, simply cannot be playing it entirely safe, “hugging the shore,” to use John Updike's expression. In any story with power, something is alive, mysterious, wild; the surface might be deceptively calm, but beneath is an undertow lurking and making its way toward us. In this class, we'll look in particular at works that have been dubbed "experimental," flagrantly challenging the conventions of narrative order and logic, cause and effect, plot and characterization, time and space. In several cases, they don't even look like stories. By trying out the exercises in this class, you will stretch yourself and explore some unconventional narrative modes. But this class is by no means geared exclusively toward those who already find themselves drawn to the literary avantgarde. The guiding assumption is that all writers can benefit from the ways in which such work galvanizes our minds and our pens, uncovering latent potential in whatever work we are already doing. By trying out everything from stream of consciousness to Oulipean games, montage to typology, you'll get fresh vantage points on your characters and storylines already in progress, whether in your mind or on the page. Optional: Bring in a draft of something in progress to which you can apply some of the techniques we'll cover.
Instructor: Tim Horvath
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 16th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Characters with Attitude
How do you create characters so vivid that you know how they would act, both inside and outside your story, novel, or essay? How, with little or no physical description, do you make a reader see a character in all his or her particulars? In this session, using examples from classic and contemporary literature, we'll unlock some of the secrets of characterization. We'll discuss "flat" and "round" characters, as defined by E.M. Forster, and we'll do a couple of exercises designed to get your characters fully onto the page. Come to this class with one or two of your characters in mind.
Instructor: Chip Cheek
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday, June 16th, 9:30am-4:30pm, Jumpstart Your Blog
A blog can be a great way to market yourself, build an audience, and exercise those creative impulses. Whether you're looking to breathe life back into an already established blog or have been wanting to start one and need a push, this class will offer guidance for writing posts others will want to read. You'll learn what makes a successful blog, read examples from the blogosphere, and begin crafting a plan that will include ways to build your audience. You'll also practice different types of posts with in-class writing exercises that will be workshopped in large and small groups. The goal is to leave with some solid beginnings (possibly finished posts), inspiration, and a strategy for success.
Instructor: Amy Marcott
$115/$95 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Tuesday, June 19th, 6:30-9:30pm, Writing Suspense: You Know It When You Feel It
Suspense is that feeling that makes it impossible to put a book down and shut off the light. It’s that essential ingredient that turns a work of fiction into a “page turner.” In this 3-hour workshop we’ll talk about what makes suspense work.
Instructor: Hallie Ephron
$50/$65 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Tuesday, June 19th, 6:15-9:15pm 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, Katherine Flynn
$50/$65 members, Grub Street HQ.

SEMINAR: Tuesday, June 19th, 6:00pm-9:00pm Brilliant Openings: How to Hook Readers from Word One
Most pieces that are submitted to magazines or publishers -- whether fiction or non-fiction -- are toss onto the reject pile within the first 500 words. Brutal, but true. In this informal class, we'll look at a few famous openings, in an effort to understand what they have in common. In addition, students are asked to bring in the first page (and only the first page) of recent unpublished manuscript for evaluation.
Instructor: Steve Almond
$50/$65 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.

--LITERARY NIGHT OUT: Friday, June 1st, 8pm, Who's Your Daddy? A Tribute to the Men Who Know Best
An evening of words, music, and mayhem in honor of fathers everywhere. Steve Almond, Jane Roper, and Alastair Moock all know something about fatherhood. Two of them are fathers themselves, one is married to a father, and all three have fathers. PLUS they've all written and expounded extensively on the subject of parenthood. Steve Almond may be best known for his love of candy (Candyfreak) but those who know him best can attest that, these days, he'll sometimes even put down a Kit Kat to spend time with his children. And his many essays on the subject of fatherhood (some of which are published in Not That You Asked, which Kirkus Reviews calls a "must have collection") are as funny and moving as anything he's ever written. Jane Roper just launched a new memoir about raising twins called Double Time: How I Survived — and Mostly Thrived — Through My First Three Years With Twins. With dry wit, the book sheds light on the topics of raising twins, grappling with mood disorders, struggling with home- and work- life balance, and being married to a singer-songwriter named Alastair Moock. Alastair has been performing on the Boston folk and blues circuit for nearly twenty years now. Lately, his attention has drifted toward the subject of having kids, and he has two award-winning children's albums to show for it. But he has promised to keep the animal songs to a minimum for this "date night" show and will be focusing almost exclusively on grownup material for and about fathers. You can find out more about all of these artists at their websites: stevealmondjoy.com, janeroper.com, and moock.com. For more information and reservations, contact the club at 617-492-7679 or online at clubpassim.org.
$15/$13 members, Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge.

--READING: June 5, 7pm, Trident Bookstore Café
Erstwhile Grub student Adam Renn Olenn will be joined by authors Mark Ammons and J.A. Hennrikus to read from the anthology: Best New England Crime Stories.
FREE, Trident Bookstore Café, 338 Newbury St., Boston, MA. http://tridentbookscafe.com/ 

--READING:  Saturday, June 9th, 7:00 pm, Tilia Klebenov Jacobs
Tilia Klebenov Jacobs is a contributing author to The Chalk Circle, an award-winning anthology of intercultural essays. Your FREE admission includes pizza, dessert, and Open Fencing for those who have "swordplay" on their bucket list.  (Entirely optional, but lots of fun.) For directions to the Worcester Fencing Club, click here: http://worcesterfencing.com/directions.html
FREE,  The Worcester Fencing Club, 243 Stafford Street, Worcester.

--READING: Thursday, June 14th, 7pm  Kimberly Rose & Grace Talusan  reading from The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure
 The stories in The Moment take all shapes and sizes— from written narratives ranging from six to a thousand words, to photographs, comics, illustrations, handwritten letters, tweets, and more. You'll hear some talented authors from the book share their moments with us. At the end, anyone from the audience is invited to share a "first line" from a Moment in his or her life. All details on the Booksmith website.
FREE, Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner

--BOOK LAUNCH: June 16th, 2pm, Tokyo Heist
Former Grub student and longtime Grub member Diana Renn (dianarenn.com) celebrates the launch of her debut YA novel, Tokyo Heist. It's about a 16-year-old manga fan who stumbles into a high-profile art heist of three van Gogh drawings and must search for the related painting in Japan. It's a YA novel -- teens are strongly encouraged to come! -- but art lovers and mystery fans of all ages will enjoy. The novel has been selected for the Summer 2012 Kids' Indie Next List. Reading, Q&A and book signing; event begins at 2pm. All are welcome.  FREE, Newtonville Books, 10 Langley Road, Newton Centre, Newton, MA.  

--SUMMER WRITING PROGRAM: July 8th-13th, Berkshire Writing Workshop Scholarships
The Berkshire Writing Workshop, a new week-long summer writing program in Great Barrington, Mass., has just received funding for several partial scholarships. (The workshop, directed by long-time Grub instructor Alison Lobron, also offers a 10 percent discount just for Grub members!) With classes in Fiction and Memoir, the BWW offers a great opportunity to get lots of writing done while enjoying a week in the lovely Berkshires at the height of summer season. (Think Tanglewood, Jacob's Pillow. . . and, yes, writing too!) The program runs from July 8 to July 13. See more details at www.simons-rock.edu/berkshire-writing-workshop. Questions? Email Alison at alison@alisonlobron.com.