Events
25th Anniversary Event Series
This fall, GrubStreet is thrilled to celebrate our 25th anniversary with a series of free events designed to bring our community together. Whether it’s your first GrubStreet event or you’ve been with us since 1997, you’re invited to join the fun this fall with free workshops, writing sessions, open houses, book launches, performances, and more to celebrate this milestone for our community - together!
Check out our full list of upcoming events. Please note that all in-person events have capacity limits — so register today!
Grubbie Debut: Jonathan Escoffery's If I Survive You (In conversation with Dariel Suarez)
Tuesday, September 6th, 7:00-8:00pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing (with a livestream option)
In partnership with Porter Square Books. Reception to follow.
We are excited to welcome Jonathan Escoffery for the release of If I Survive You, his debut novel! Best-selling author Ann Patchett describes it as "a collection of connected short stories that reads like a novel, that reads like real life, that reads like fiction written at the highest level."
Podcasting for Everyone: Getting Started is Easier Than You Think!
Thursday, Sept. 8th, 6:30pm to 7:30pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing (with livestream option)
Podcasting is enjoying a resurgence lately, and it's easy to think that you need formal training or fancy equipment to try it out. You don't. In a discussion moderated by GrubStreet's Director of Community Engagement (and podcast lover) Eson Kim, come hear how podcasters Heloiza Barbosa and Felix Poon started out with zero podcast experience and eventually developed their craft into personally meaningful and award-winning works. There will be time for audience questions as well! Directly following the event, there will be a small Open House tour of GrubStreet's new podcast studio space. Sign-ups will be available at the event for those who are interested.
Valeria Luiselli with Jenny Minton Quigley, Best Short Stories 2022
Thursday, September 15th, 7:00-8:00pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing, In partnership with Porter Square Books and the Harvard Review
We're welcoming Valeria Luiselli, editor of The Best Short Stories 2022: The O. Henry Prize Winners, for the anthology's release week event! She will be joined in conversation by the series' editor for the The O. Henry Prize Collection, Jenny Minton Quigley, and contributors Michel Nieva and David Ryan. Register here.
Words Create Worlds Award Ceremony - Author Talk and Book Signing with Christine Pride and Jo Piazza, co-authors of the novel We Are Not Like Them
Tuesday, September 20th, 7-9pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing (with a livestream option), In partnership with Getting to We and Porter Square Books, Reception to follow
Getting To We, Porter Square Books, and GrubStreet are thrilled to celebrate the inaugural Words Create Worlds Award Winners, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza, authors of We Are Not Like Them! Words Create Worlds Award is designed to amplify the voices of writers of books, essays, screen plays, or poetry whose messages turn us and them into we. This in-person event will also be broadcasted live to the Porter Square Books Crowdcast (register here for virtual viewing).
Daniel S. Medwed's Barred: Why the Innocent Can't Get Out of Prison (In conversation with Rachael Rollins)
Wednesday, September 21st, 7:00-8:00pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing (with a livestream option) - In partnership with Porter Square Books
Laura Warrell's Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm (In conversation with Steven Almond)
GrubStreet and Porter Square Books are excited to welcome author Laura Warrell for the release of Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, a novel Kirkus Reviews called "a captivating modern romance evoking love, loss, recovery, and redemption.” Steve Almond will join the author in conversation. Registration link coming soon!
Emerging Writer Fellowship Reading and Celebration
Thursday, October 6th, 7:00-9:00pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing (with a livestream option), Reception to follow
GrubStreet's Emerging Writer Fellowship celebrates its fifth year this year! The Fellowship aims to develop new, exciting voices by providing writers tuition-free access to GrubStreet’s classes and Muse & the Marketplace conference. Join us to hear from current and past fellows Julian Iralu, Kevin Jiang, Destiny Lopez, Tochukwu Okafor, and Antonia Yang, who will each read from their work. They will then be joined by GrubStreet Instructor and Senior Program Coordinator Laniesha Brown for a panel discussion about their experiences in the Fellowship and as writers.
Member Writing Hours - 25th Anniversary Edition!
GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing - Featuring special snacks and drinks from local businesses
If you’re a member of GrubStreet, you’re invited to come hang out in the community lounge, spend time with other writers, and enjoy some quiet, unstructured writing time in GrubStreet’s beautiful new home. These special weekly writing hours are a favorite of our members. And in celebration of our 25th anniversary, September’s Member Writing Hours will feature complimentary snacks and beverages. Register for any of the following sessions:
- Friday, September 9th, 2:30-6:00pm
- Friday, September 16th, 2:30-6:00pm
- Friday, September 23rd, 2:30-6:00pm
- Friday, September 30th, 2:30-6:00pm
Open House & Info Session - In-Person
Thursday, September 22nd, 5:30-6:30pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing, Snacks and drinks will be served
Join our In-Person Open House to talk about upcoming Fall 2022 classes, GrubStreet's membership program, GrubStreet's Boston Writers of Color Group, and The Muse and the Marketplace. After a short presentation, we will be on hand to answer questions and show off our brand new space, including our expanded classrooms for teens and adults, the bookstore run by our friends at Porter Square Books, our community lounge, Boston’s only stage for the literary arts, and our podcast studio. This event includes complimentary drinks and snacks.
Workshop - Write Together: Collaborative Storytelling with Katherine Yeh
Friday, September 9th, 6:00-7:30pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing
This is a writing session where students will work together in small groups to collaboratively write a story. Each group will be given a short list of writing prompts/story elements and various craft elements that they need to incorporate into their story. This class will spark creativity while also teaching collaboration with other writers. The inclusion of craft into the story will allow writers to hone their writing skills and/or learn from other writers.
Workshop - 50 Ways to Fill the Blank Page: A Poem Generator with Walter Smelt
Saturday, September 10th, 12:00-1:30pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing
In this 90-minute session, poets will quickly respond to a rapid-fire series of prompts to kickstart their creative engines. We will collaborate on group exercises, respond to visual art, get inspired by published poems, practice looking deeply at what's in front of us, and randomize our process using dictionaries, YouTube, and scissors.
Workshop - 5 Alive: Tapping Your Senses with Clara Silverstein
Saturday, September 17th, 12:00-1:30pm - GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing
Good writing thrives on sensory detail! This workshop prompts you to use each of your five senses to generate new work. At the outset, we'll provide a selection of objects to touch and ask you to choose one, then write whatever comes to mind. We'll do the same for smell. Then we'll go outside to find sights and sounds. Here, you'll be prompted to make a list of 5 sights and 5 sounds, then write about one of each
The class concludes with a selection of snack foods to use as prompts for taste. The practice using each of your senses in your writing will pay off when you want to incorporate sensory detail in longer, more polished pieces.
September Friday Night Writes with Black Pruitt
Friday, September 30th, from 5:30pm-6:30pm - Online: Zoom
What's more satisfying than leaving work behind on a Friday evening? Rounding out the week with a free virtual writing session, of course! Maximize that Friday night feeling and kick off your writing weekend with us online. Join us and log into GrubStreet Remote for some writing! In 60 jam-packed minutes, you’ll meet fellow writers and get your creative juices flowing with some great writing exercises.