Lit Boston: What's Happening in October?
In the October 2019 edition of "Best of Boston," we bring you our top Boston lit events this month, curated from the Boston Literary District's event calendar, an essential source of literary happenings.
Rekindle Your Craft: A Prompt-Writing Night
Wednesday, October 2nd, 6:30pm - 9:00pm
The Village Works
Fire up those stagnant creative writing projects and join us for Rekindle Your Craft, a prompt-inspired writing night. We work from one-word prompts and sometimes images, and then write for a set amount of time. Then, we gather back to see what the prompt did for us. You can share your work or your process if you want, but we won’t make you do it! Bring your dinner or feast on our decadent snacks.
Poetry Reading at Somerville Community Growing Center
Sunday, October 6th, 3:30pm - 6:30pm
The Growing Center
Lloyd Schwartz, poet laureate of Somerville, David Surrette, author of Malden, and Linda Flaherty Haltmaier, poet laureate of Andover will be featured. A reception will follow the reading.
Monday, October 14th, 7:00pm
Trident Booksellers and Cafe
Bring one to three books in good condition (no textbooks or mass markets, please!) to swap with fellow attendees. Everyone will go home with a new book to add to their shelves! This will operate like a white elephant gift exchange.
FREE Happy Hour Writing Session
Friday, October 18th, from 5:30pm - 6:30pm
GrubStreet HQ
What's more satisfying than leaving work behind on a Friday afternoon? Rounding out the week with a free writing session, of course! In 60 jam-packed minutes, meet fellow writers and get your creative juices flowing with some great writing exercises. Free drinks (beer, wine, coffee, water) and snacks provided.
Weekend, October 19th–20th
Copley Square and Roxbury
The Boston Book Festival celebrates the power of words to stimulate, agitate, unite, delight, and inspire by holding year-round events culminating in an annual, free Festival that promotes a culture of reading and ideas and enhances the vibrancy of our city.
Kate Wisel: Driving in Cars with Homeless Men
Wednesday, October 23rd, 7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith
Serena, Frankie, Raffa, and Nat collide and break apart like pool balls to come back together in an imagined post-divorce future. Homeless Men is the collective story of women whose lives careen back into the past, to the places where pain lurks and haunts. With riotous energy and rage, they run towards the future in the hopes of untangling themselves from failure to succeed and fail again.
WDtS Mattapan: Five Weeks of Controversy
Thursdays starting October 24th, 5:45pm - 7:45pm (Free)
Mattapan Branch of the BPL
This five-week course will consider five topics—race, politics, religion, money, and love—with a focus on how they play in the lives of people of color. Additionally, the readings will be examined with the intent of sharpening our own writing around controversial topics. Write Down the Street programs are offered tuition-free thanks to the support of generous donors who are committed to our mission of ensuring all voices are heard.
WDtS Egleston: Book It! Quick & Dirty Novel Writing
Thursdays starting October 24th, 3:45pm - 5:45pm (Free)
Egleston Square Branch of the BPL
This fun-packed, high energy course will guide you through the whole process: from vanquishing your inner editor and outlining your book (if that’s your style) to doing word sprints then racing toward the finish line. Write Down the Street programs are offered tuition-free thanks to the support of generous donors who are committed to our mission of ensuring all voices are heard.
Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne presents Holding On To Nothing: A Novel
Thursday, October 24th, 7:00pm
Harvard Book Store
Harvard Book Store and GrubStreet welcome local debut author and Novel Incubator alum Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne for a discussion of her new novel, Holding On To Nothing. Harvard Book Store's New Voices in Fiction series, presented with GrubStreet, highlights debut fiction writers discussing their work and the writing process.
WDtS Egleston: Pieces of Me: Writing about Gender
Friday, October 25th, 12:00 - 1:30pm (Free)
Egleston Square Branch of the BPL
Come deconstruct and reconstruct the concept of gender in order to better understand ourselves, each other, and the world in which we live. This 90-minute class will require all participants to commit to creating a safe and supportive container so that writers can create and share bravely and authentically. Participants will leave with the first draft of a poem or personal essay, and will get the opportunity to share their work in progress and receive on-the-spot feedback from the instructor and peers. All genders are welcome. Write Down the Street programs are offered tuition-free thanks to the support of generous donors who are committed to our mission of ensuring all voices are heard.
Young Adult Writers Program (YAWP): FREE Saturday Sessions
Saturday, October 26th, 12:00pm - 4:00pm
GrubStreet HQ
GrubStreet throws its doors open during one Saturday each month, offering FREE creative writing workshops for Boston-area high schoolers. Explore examples of great imagery in poems in Images to Remember: Create Compelling Imagery in Poems. Read and watch texts by artists like Octavia Butler and N. K. Jemisin and write two prompts designed to free your stories from cliched futures in Whose Future? Our Future! Find the secret ingredients that go into crafting tales that keep us on the edge of our seats in Writing On the Edge of Our Seats. All students must register in advance.
Tuesday, October 29th, 6:30pm / Reading at 7pm
Trident Booksellers and Cafe
Going big can be a challenge. Write too loud and your big moments become melodrama, not loud enough and they can lose their punch. Come hear how authors Rachel Barenbaum (A Bend in the Stars), Mark Guerin (You Can See More from up Here), and Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne (Holding on to Nothing) found the right volume for their novels’ biggest moments.
FREE Brown Bag Lunch Writing Series
Wednesday, October 30th, 12:30pm - 1:15pm
GrubStreet HQ
Do you work downtown and want to fit some writing into your day? Or do you have a schedule that gives you free afternoons instead of evenings? Stop by GrubStreet with your lunch to meet fellow writers and get your creative juices flowing with some cool writing exercises.
Maura Intemann
Maura is a third-year student studying English and Communications at Northeastern University. She's from Long Island, New York and in her free time loves watching movies, listening to music, and rock climbing.
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