Event Description
Come hear from GrubStreet’s 2025 Literary Ambassador: Kali Fajardo-Anstine! Kali is the author of the national bestselling novel Women of Light and the award-winning story collection Sabrina and Corina. Moderated by critically acclaimed author Melissa Rivero, in this event Kali will share learnings from her journey as a writer, her path—including successes and challenges—to publication, and what aspiring writers should keep in mind when embarking on their own journeys. Kali will be signing books alongside Melissa after the event.
NOTE: When you register for this event, you will be automatically entered in a raffle to potentially win 1 of 5 copies of Kali’s novel Women of Light, which we’ll be giving away in person at the conclusion of the event. Additional copies of Kali’s and Melissa’s books will be made available for purchase by our bookstore partner on site, Porter Square Books.
About the Presenters
Kali Fajardo-Anstine is the nationally bestselling author of the novel Woman of Light (Random House, 2022), winner of the Reading the West Award in Fiction, the Women Writing the West Willa Award in Historical Fiction, and nominated for the Colorado Book Award, the Carol Shields Prize, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Fajardo-Anstine’s first book is the widely acclaimed short story collection Sabrina & Corina (Random House, 2019), a finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN/Bingham Prize, the Story Prize, the Saroyan International Prize, and winner of a American Book Award and a Reading the West Award in Fiction.
Her honors include awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Denver Mayor’s office. She was the 2022 - 2024 Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University, and has received fellowships from Yaddo (2017, 2021), MacDowell (2018, 2021), Hedgebrook, and Tin House. Her writing has appeared in the The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, O the Oprah Magazine, The American Scholar, Boston Review, and elsewhere. Translated into numerous languages, her work has been published in Japanese, Italian, German, Slovenian, Spanish, and Turkish. Born in Denver, Colorado, Fajardo-Anstine holds an MFA from the University of Wyoming, and she worked for over a decade as an independent bookseller at West Side Books in North Denver.
This class will take place in-person at our Center for Creative Writing in Boston's Seaport neighborhood.
Covid-19 Update:
GrubStreet's space will be mask-optional when Boston's Covid-19 Community Level is low or medium. When the Covid-19 Community Level is high, our space will require masks. Please check GrubStreet's Covid-19 page for the latest info on masking and Community Levels before visiting in person.
Space Accessibility:
Our space is ADA accessible with automatic door openers, ADA-compliant restrooms, desk and table spacing, braille signage, and elevator. Our classrooms can be equipped with ALS for hard of hearing individuals. We cannot guarantee a scent-free environment. For more accessibility requests, please contact our Operations team at [email protected] or (617) 695-0075.