Writers' Open Mic: September

Event Description

Dying to share the first few lines of your slice-of-life novel set in the South End or your epic blank verse poem about T delays? Curious what other local creatives are working on?

Writers’ Open Mic is the home for works in progress from all literary genres. Prose, poetry, flash fiction, pages from your graphic novel, a haiku about Market Basket; whatever you’re working on, come and dazzle a live audience in a low-key, supportive atmosphere.

Connect with a literary community, have a drink or two, hear inspiring features from established and emerging writers, and be the first to know what’s new and next in Boston’s lit scene.

Doors open at 6:30 to sign up for one of the coveted slots to read. Readings start at 7pm, with features at 8pm.

Writers’ Open Mic is free to attend, 18+, and registration is requested. Click the link above to register on Eventbrite. Alcohol will be for sale for 21+ attendees. WOM is brought to you by GrubStreet, Porter Square Books, and Mass Poetry.

Featured Readers

Frankie Concepcion (she/her) is GrubStreet's Development Coordinator. In this role, Frankie helps to make sure that GrubStreet has the resources to keep providing exciting classes and programs that meet the needs of writers and readers at all levels, while supporting writers’ development and helping them share that work locally and with the world. Previously, Frankie has served as a 2024-2025 Tin House Reading Fellow, Managing Editor for literary magazine Hayden's Ferry Review, Instructor at Arizona State University, and Development Coordinator for Boston nonprofit theatre, SpeakEasy Stage Company. A long time Grubbie, she is a member of the Boston Writers of Color, a graduate of the 2019 Short Story Incubator, and was a presenter at the 2024 Muse & the Marketplace Conference. In 2019, she founded the Boston Immigrant Writers Salon: a community to empower and inspire immigrant voices, and in 2024 she completed her MFA in Fiction from Arizona State University. Frankie has also received additional fellowships from Tin House, Sibling Rivalry Press and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, and her writing has been published in The Good Life Review, Barzakh, StoryQuarterly, Joyland, HYPHEN, and more. She was born and raised in the Philippines.

Brynna Boyd (she/her) is a black, queer, writer from Texas. Currently based in Boston, she is the 2024 Boston Poetry Slam Champion, and was on the winning team for the 2024 and 2026 Northbeast regional slams and 2025 VOX POP Team Slam. She has always had a love for writing and has found community through sharing her work at slams, open mics, and local writing groups. Her work is published in places such as Clitbait Feminist Blog, Molecule Mag, The Trident Poetry Collective Anthologies: The Heartbreaks and With Gritted Teeth, Shooting Stars At Sky–The Poetry of Play, and displayed proudly in the homes of her friends and family. She is the author of a zine, Plantation Fires, that explores protest, identity, and ancestry. She has featured at events including Providence Poetry Slam, Funda Fest for Black Storytellers, Narrative Bookstore’s open mic, The Medford Poetry Festival, Verb n Flow in Chelsea, among others. Brynna teaches middle school creative writing, and finds great joy in helping students explore their creative power. Her writing is informed by her lived experiences, readings, musings of better worlds, and the everyday. When she’s not writing or teaching, you’ll find her at thrift stores, book shops, and searching for the best fries in town. The best way to keep up with her is on Instagram: @brynna_boyd or find her for a fresh yappuccino!