Read on for an interview with Erin Almond, author of the debut novel Witches’ Dance, faithfully conducted by her husband, author and GrubStreet instructor Steve Almond. Steve has taught at GrubStreet since 1998, and Erin has been taking classes here since 2002.

In anticipation of Erin Almond’s book launch at Harvard Book Store on Wednesday, November 20th, the two authors talk about how to get writing done as a parent, virtuosity in art, and how to handle rejection by separating the writing and the publishing aspects of your projects.

I love my wife’s new novel. But don’t take my word for it. Ramona Ausubel calls ...

In this post, GrubStreet Instructor Ben Berman reflects on the importance of flexible thinking during the creative process.

On the very same day that my older daughter was born, my grandmother died. I have always wanted to write about this but for some reason I have never been able to figure out how.

At first, I thought it might lend itself to a philosophical meditation on liminality and what it means to simultaneously navigate birth and death or perhaps some sort of spiritual piece on the deep connections between generations.

The problem, though, was that the ideas ...

Tuesday
November 19, 2019
7:00pm

Harvard Book Store and GrubStreet welcome Nina MacLaughlin—the acclaimed local author of the memoir Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter—for a discussion of her highly anticipated fiction debut, Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung.

The first time you publish a book, it’s a pretty surreal experience. First you wallow deliciously in the dreams and hopes that have built up inside you for years. Eventually, you learn to deal with the inflated expectations that breathless articles about the writing life have created in you. And then, when you make a sale, you have to wade through a lot of conflicting information: reconciling what your publisher promises with the sometimes demoralizing advice you get from other first-time authors (who often just don’t seem quite as happy as you think they should be).

With an eye to ...

Our nine-month Novel Generator program is designed to help students at all levels complete (or make substantial progress toward completing) a first draft of a novel in an environment that offers support, accountability and feedback appropriate to this early stage in the novel-writing process. 

The combination of craft instruction, accountability, instructor feedback, and class continuity in the Novel Generator has helped our students to leave the program with either a finished draft, or a partial draft and a clear path to the ending.

Applications for the Spring 2020 Novel Generator are due Monday, December 2nd, at 11:59pm (EST).

Learn ...