This month, Grubbies were published in literary journals across the country, won awards and prizes, secured book deals, and so much more. Our community is closing August 2023 out with twenty-seven publications, four awards and prizes, one book deal, and three book publications! Let us celebrate you: submit your good news to GrubStreet’s Department of Congratulations.

Instructor Dorian Fox's craft essay "Embracing Your Range: Complex Story, Layered Voice" was published on the Brevity blog. Boston Writers of Color member Melissa A Watkins was accepted to the Prague Summer Writer's Program and spent a month in Czechia writing and studying. She would like to thank GrubStreet for their Literary Support Stipend, which helped cover expenses while abroad. Ellen Davis Sullivan's flash fiction "Taking Mary Oliver's Advice" was published online in Cotton Xenomorph. Instructor Derek JG Williams' poem "Ellis Hall, Room" was published in the Irish literary journal, Banshee. Memoir Incubator graduate Jason Prokowiew's essay "The Demulcent of Shame" was published by Roxane Gay in her Emerging Writer Series, The Audacity. He thanks his writing group, made of Grubbies Emily May and Kristin Amico, for its insight and support.

Boston Writers of Color member and Muse presenter Patrice Gopo is excited to share that her second essay collection, Autumn Song: Essays on Absence (University of Nebraska Press | American Lives Series), is now available — although the official release date is September 1. This collection includes a micro essay she wrote during a “6 Essays, 6 Weeks” class she took with Grace Talusan. Additionally, Patrice Gopo is the recipient of an Arts & Science Council Cultural Vision Grant. This funding will enable her to turn her podcast, Picture Books Are for Grown-Ups Too!, into a series of programming for her local library. Kaecey McCormick is the winner of the 2023 Connecticut Poetry Award for the poem "Bruin Walk."

Gil Israeli will be attending the Craigardan Residency in August 2023. Denise Dilanni's essay "Things Will Not Stay Put" was recently published in Pangyrus. Kathylynne Somerville's poem "Out of Fashion" will be published in The Wise Owl Online Journal in August. She thanks instructor Tatiana Johnson-Boria for her support and encouragement, as well as her fellow peers for their helpful feedback and insight in Tatiana's "6 Weeks, 6 Poems" class. Boston Writers of Color member and instructor Autumn Allen is celebrating the launch of her debut novel on August 29 with a conversation and book signing at the Mattapan Branch of the Boston Public Library. Novel revision courses at GrubStreet helped her on this journey. Christy Cashman's debut novel, The Truth About Horses (Spark Press), will launch August 15.

Instructor and Memoir Incubator graduate Aimee Seiff Christian's essay about how Sinead O'Connor's rage and determination helped her understand an important part of herself back in 1992 was published in Cognoscenti. Instructor and Boston Writers of Color member Alexis M. Wright was selected as a 2023 Tin House Summer Scholar. Memoir Incubator graduate Patricia Harney’s recent Slate publication led to a guest interview on All in the Mind, a psychology podcast hosted by Sana Qadar on Australian ABC Radio. GrubStreet partner and Mass Poetry Executive Director Daniel Johnson recently launched his second poetry collection, Shadow Act. Memoir Incubator graduate Karen Kirsten's memoir Irena's Gift was published by Penguin Random House in Australia with an extract in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age (Melbourne) and is forthcoming in the UK August 31. She wishes to thank the incredible Alysia Abbott and her fellow incubees.

Jean Iversen's essay "Rated Condemned" was published in the Fall 2023 issue of Parabola Journal. She thanks fellow students of Ethan Gilsdorf's "Developing Your Personal Essay" class for feedback on this piece. Additionally, Jean published her essay "Private Storm on Black Mesa Landscape" in Memoir Land/The Lit Lab. She is grateful to instructor Monica Benevides and fellow students for their encouraging feedback. Tomra Michelle Vecere's essay "Weak Link" was published in The Fourth River. She would like to thank all of her GrubStreet teachers and fellow students for their feedback and support. Instructor Alysia Abbott's essay "'Barbie' isn't about the matriarchy or the patriarchy. It’s about fantasy vs. reality" was published in Cognoscenti. She would like to thank Andrea Meyer for her smart edits on this essay.

Instructor and Memoir and Essay Incubator graduate Kristen Paulson-Nguyen's essay "The Fisher Space Pen" was published in The Keepthings. She's grateful to her many writing groups and to her essay students, who keep her writing. Jeffrey M. Feingold was accepted to Electric Literature’s residency workshop in Vermont, October, 2023, where he will be studying fiction writing with Chaya Bhuvaneswar, while working on his third book in progress. Liz Kinchen's article about trauma and healing was published in Best Self Magazine. She thanks Ethan Gilsdorf's class on Personal Narrative. Giulietta Nardone's itty-bitty story "Of The Sea" appeared in 50-Word Stories.

On September 12, Jonathan Mael's debut book, Harlem World: How Hip Hop's Super Showdown Changed Music Forever, will be released from Johns Hopkins University Press. Instructor Debbie Sosin's essay "Inclusivity Isn't Simple" was published on the Brevity blog. Sara Letourneau has signed a contract with Kelsay Books to publish her debut poetry collection, Wild Gardens, in mid-2024. Memoir Incubator graduate Elvina Scott was awarded a Goldfinch Writers Retreat at Looking Glass Arts. Elvina is grateful to her Memoir Incubator fam for their love, support, and community.

Memoir Incubator graduate Rachel Zimmerman's essay "My Daughter Wanted A Tattoo. It Didn't Bother Me — Until I Saw What She Chose" was published in the Huffington Post on August 5. She'd like to thank her Memoir Incubator colleagues Doug Smith, Aimee Seiff Christian, and Katie Liesener for feedback. Screenwriting Instructor and Manuscript Consultant Cheryl Eagan-Donovan's workshop "How to Create a Killer Pitch" was selected by the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival and Conference for its 2024 Panel Picker Series.

Instructor Carolyn Roy-Bornstein’s essay “Thunder, Leaves, and Stardust: Reflecting on the Role of Literary Arts in Medical Education” was published in Teachers & Writers Magazine. Boston Writers of Color member Federico Erebia's debut novel, Pedro & Daniel, was recommended on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday: "It's one of the most powerful sibling stories...written in beautiful language that you can really savor...the two characters will steal readers' hearts."

Eben E. B. Bein's first chapbook, Character Flaws, was recently released. Two key poems in the manuscript were generated from their class with instructor Otto Vock, which was the first official poetry-focused class they ever had. Boston Writers of Color member Paige Curtis’ essay about how gardening connects us to the natural world was recently published in The Atlantic.

Donna Luff's personal essay "Safety Ambassador" was published by Pangyrus Literary Magazine. The idea for the essay germinated from a conversation with a literary agent at a Muse conference. Donna is grateful to her writing group, formed out of Advanced Memoir classes with Alysia Abbott, for all their feedback.

Essay Incubator alum Jennifer Dines' essay "A Stop at Ellicott City" was published in HerStry. She thanks fellow incubator alums Kristen Paulson-Nguyen and Roberta Holland for their feedback and encouragement. Anne Falkowski's short story "A Decent Dog" was chosen as an Editor's Pick by Solstice Literary Magazine. She thanks Alysia Abbott and the rest of her memoir incubator cohorts for encouraging/supporting her to submit her work both in fiction and nonfiction. Linda Button's essay "One by one, our five kids finished school on their own terms. Now, we're all finding our way" ran in Cognoscenti (special thanks to Ethan Gilsdorf for introducing her class to a host of publishers).

Federico Erebia's debut novel, Pedro & Daniel, was recommended on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday: "It's one of the most powerful sibling stories...written in beautiful language that you can really savor...the two characters will steal readers' hearts." Shirley Jones Luke received a residency at The Writer's Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Shirley is spending ten days at the residency working on poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. RJ Taylor's short story "Vanishing Point" was published in the July/August 2023 issue of the Hugo Award-winning Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Thuy Phan's essay "Why is it so hard to take up space?" was published in Solstice Literary Magazine as an Editors' Pick in their Annual Literary Contest. She thanks her fellow Essay Incubator classmates and instructor Ethan Gilsdorf for their generous feedback and encouragement. As a longtime journalist, Ricki Morell is thrilled to be called an "emerging" fiction writer by Solstice Literary Magazine. Her short story, "The Poet and the Fisherman," was published in its 2023 summer issue. The story was also recently named a finalist in the Pangyrus literary magazine fiction contest judged by novelist Jennifer Haigh. She thanks her wonderful GrubStreet Novel Generator class and Marjan Kamali for all the support. Amy Mevorach published her essay, "A Pearl, a Thumb, a Fish" in Boulevard.

Devorah Heitner is an alum of two classes with Samantha Shanley. Her book, Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World, is out on 9/12. This is the definitive book on helping kids navigate growing up in a world where nearly every moment of their lives can be shared and compared. An excerpt from Kristen Paulson-Nguyen's memoir was chosen as a Summer 2023 Graphic Lit Editors' Pick at Solstice Literary Magazine. Rob McKean's novel Mending What Is Broken has been published by Livingston Press. It is the story of Peter Sanguedolce, a man who learns that having a big heart and good intentions are not enough. The novel reminds us of the fragility of the families we make and the families we lose. Andrew Zubiri's essay "We Waited for Them" appears in the Fall 2023 issue of The Threepenny Review. He's grateful for A.E Osworth's Muse & the Marketplace 2022 lecture "Writing Collective We' Narrators," which helped immensely in developing the piece.

Instructor Mary Carroll Moore's new literary thriller, A Woman's Guide to Search & Rescue, became a Hot New Release on Amazon in two categories within the first week of pre-order. Kirkus Review called it "an exciting work of survival fiction with strong female characters." The publication date is October 24th with Riverbed Press.

Jason Prokowiew, a Memoir Incubator graduate, was awarded a fall 2023 Ucross Fellowship. He thanks instructors Alysia Abbott and Xujun Eberlein for their ongoing support.

Boston Writers of Color Community Member Krishna Lewis recently had her memoir essay "Menoka" published in Pangryus. She is grateful to instructor Clara Silverstein and her class "Writing the Mosaic Memoir."

Linda Button's essay "Why We Fight" has also been published by Pangryus. She is a graduate of both the Memoir and the Essay Incubators, and this was an essay born in the Memoir Incubator and brought to life in the Essay Incubator. She thanks instructors Alysia Abbott and Ethan Gilsdorf for their generous leadership and her beloved incubator tribes.