Here at Grub HQ, we're always talking about the novels keeping us up at night, the poems that call to us over our morning coffees, and those un-put-down-able memoirs you'll find us reading while walking through four lanes of traffic [Ed.'s note: all walk-reading is performed by Grub's trained extreme readers; do not try this at home]. Every month, we'll share our staff's latest literary obsessions to add to your own never-ending reading list.

Welcome to the inaugural August 2017 edition of "Writing Life Essentials," a monthly hand-curated list of contests, grants, scholarships, submissions calls, and awards, with a focus on opportunities that are local, free to apply, and/or designed to give voice to under represented communities

GrubStreet runs on coffee, printer ink, and community. This series features just some of the Grubbies who make our community strong. In this edition, meet Grub Instructor Allison Hoch. You can catch Allison in person on Saturday, September 16th, in her one-day class, Build Your Own Event: A Marketing Workshop.

Twice a month, we feature our favorite literary links. As ever, we promise: You’ll laugh. You'll ponder. You won’t get any writing done.

From Teen Vogue, a first peek at hotly-anticipated YA novel, Children of Blood and Bone.

Tomi Adeyemi’s ‘Children of Blood and Bone’: Take an Exclusive First Look."