Every month, we celebrate the successes of our community members! This month, Grubbies were published in literary journals across the country, won awards and prizes, secured book deals, and so much more. We are proud to announce in September 2023 we had thirty-four publications, four awards and prizes, and four book publications! Let us celebrate you: submit your good news to GrubStreet’s Department of Congratulations.

Aimee McKay's nonfiction essay "Venus of Willendorf" was published in Third Street Review. She has been taking GrubStreet classes for a few years and is grateful to her teachers and classmates for their support. Instructor Mary Carroll Moore's essay "Playing the Agent Game – What It Took and What I Won" was published in the August 24 issue of Dead Darlings. Yvonne Liu's HuffPost essay about why she kept her adoption a secret for over sixty years went viral and has now been read by over 3 million people. Memoir Incubator graduate Dr. Tamara MC published an essay in Woman & Home about cycling every day. Jen Hallaman's poem "Take this as you like" was published in the Sierra Nevada Review. She is grateful to instructor Laniesha Brown for providing an excellent portraiture prompt in Spring 2023 Advanced Poetry.

Instructor Ethan Gilsdorf, who teaches the Essay Incubator program, was featured in the "Member Spotlight" section of RIters Resource, a publication of LitArts RI, an organization that supports Rhode Island's creators of the written, spoken, and illustrated word. Quotes from Cynthia Yee's essays are recorded as a bilingual accompaniment to the dance piece “Becoming Water,” choreographed by Fernadina Chan, founder of the Continuum Dance Project for the Momentum Greenway Dance Series, and sponsored by Amazon. Keith Aron's essay "Beyond the Bluffs" was published in the Fall 2023 Issue of Still Point Arts Quarterly. He credits the essay's placement to craft lessons learned in Carolyn Zaikowski's "6 Essays, 6 Weeks" class and invaluable feedback from Grub classmates.

Ellen Cliggott’s first published essay, “Battleship,” appeared in Book of Matches. She revised this essay in Ethan Gilsdorf’s 2021 “Personal Essay in Progress” class and would like to thank Ethan for his recent support during GrubStreet’s Mentorship Office Hours. Rob McKean's essay on time travel novels, "Rags of Time: Studies in Fictional Travels in Time," has been published by the online journal The Decadent Review (Berlin, Germany). Rob's fascination with tales of traveling through time goes back to his teenage years. Elizabeth Christopher's short story "The Gift" was published in Passengers Journal. Devorah Heitner's book Growing Up in Public is out with Penguin Random House and has gotten lovely reviews in The Chicago Tribune, Book Page, and others.

Boston Writers of Color member and instructor Lisa Braxton published a commentary in WBUR Cognoscenti, "My neighbors didn’t speak to me — until we got a corgi, ‘the queen’s dog.’" Instructor A.J. Rodriguez's short story "Americanos" was chosen by author Kirstin Valdez-Quade as the second place winner in Salamander's 2023 Fiction Contest. The story will appear in the upcoming Fall/Winter Issue of the magazine. Christine Eskilson’s short story “Confessions of a NIMBY,” appears in the September 2023 issue of Mystery Magazine.

Instructor Lesléa Newman's book Always Matt: A Tribute to Matthew Shepard is due to be published by Abrams ComicArts on September 26. Incubator graduate Dr. Tamara MC published an essay about the Duggar docuseries in Newsweek's My Turn column. Amy Rothschild, who participated in Dennis Sweeney's "How to Submit: Publishing Your Writing with Literary Magazines and Small Presses," had her first published poem, "For F*ck's Sake" in Maudlin House.

Brenden Layte's flash nonfiction piece "Iron Oxide" was published in JMWW. Meredith Wilshere’s nonfiction essay "I was nervous to see my boyfriend's reaction to 'Barbie.' But the open conversation we had afterward proves I'm with the right person." was published in Insider. She has been taking GrubStreet classes for a few years, including "Jumpstart Your Novel." She is grateful for her instructor and classmate's support. Instructor Mary Carroll Moore was a guest on The Indy Author video podcast, talking about how her mother inspired her current novel, A Woman's Guide to Search & Rescue.

Pete Prokesch's flash-fiction story "Wet Cement" was republished in Wise Owl's, The Collectibles - Eclectic Tales of 2023. Sohana Manzoor’s short story “Illegal Business” was published in Litro Magazine as a Story Sunday piece. She wrote the first draft in Yu-Mei Balasingamchow's "Developing Your Short Fiction" class; she thanks Yu-Mei and her classmates for their detailed feedback and encouragement. Viktoria Shulevich's humor piece "Would You Rather Stay Home Alone or Online Date?: A Game for Single Women'' was published in The New Yorker. Additionally, Viktoria has been selected for the St. Nell's Humor Writing Residency.

Instructor Natalie Serber published her personal essay “Mirrors,” about shopping, sex, car maintenance, and divorce, at Memoir Land. Douglas Silver, a consultant at GrubStreet, had his short story "Taste" published in the Fall 2023 issue of the Kenyon Review. Instructor Catherine Parnell's short story "Sisters of the Sacred Well" appeared in Mud Season Review. Essay Incubator graduate Sara Schreur celebrated her first publication with her essay “‘Everything will change’—except the music we fall in love with when we’re young” in WBUR's Cognoscenti. She is grateful for her instructor Ethan Gilsdorf’s support and the incubator alumni community. Essay Incubator instructor Ethan Gilsdorf has published his essay "How to Prepare for A Difficult Conversation" in Brevity Magazine. He thanks his students for their inspiration, support, and their reminder to practice what you preach.

The New Short Fiction Series will perform short stories from community member Jeffrey M. Feingold’s Pinnacle Achievement Award-winning debut collection, The Black Hole Pastrami (Meat for Tea Press). The performance, a ticketed event, will be live-streamed on September 27. Sara Letourneau's poem "Beyond" was recently published at Didcot Writers. She'd like to thank Nadia Colburn, whose virtual GrubStreet workshop "Poetry As a Form of Attention" in 2020 was where this poem was born. Short Story Incubator graduate Janice Furlong’s short story “Safety Check” will appear in the Fall 2023 issue of Washington Square Review. Additionally, Janice’s short story “Just One Day,” in the Winter 2022 issue of the Michigan Quarterly Review, was nominated for the 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. Janice offers thanks to writing group members for their incisive feedback on this story.

Instructors Anjali Mitter Duva and Henriette Lazaridis have launched the preliminary website for their brand new publishing company, Galiot Press, with an aim to bring about a sea change in publishing. They'd like to thank the Grub community for all the encouragement, feedback, and support along the way. Sarah Whelan’s novel Humbug: Scrooge Before the Ghosts launches November 7. This retelling of A Christmas Carol focuses on Ebenezer Scrooge’s life before his fateful encounter with the ghosts of Christmas time.

Jung Hae Chae, a 2022 Muse conference attendee, had a short memoir piece called "Smalls" published in the Fall 2023 issue of StoryQuarterly. Additionally, her poem "Ode to Insomnia" was published in the Fall 2023 issue of The Red Wheelbarrow. Essay Incubator instructor Ethan Gilsdorf published an essay "The cell phone turned 50 this year. To celebrate, I’d like to be a little less connected" with WBUR Cognoscenti.

Marissa Gallerani recently had an article featured in Write or Die online. Sally Burns won second place in the “My Secret Lansing” contest with her essay “Sweet and Vulnerable Earth Loving Neighborhood;“ her essay was also published in the My Secret Lansing anthology. Sally thanks instructor Judith Hertog for her inspiring "6 Weeks, 6 Essays” class at GrubStreet, and Julia Grant’s popup writing sessions in the early Covid days. In both, participants' encouragement meant the world!