Class Description
Welcome to the Reader's Room, where we approach beloved books as works of art, combining the camaraderie of a book club with the rigor of a literature seminar. The Reader's Room welcomes anyone who loves books, whether or not they identify as a writer. Together, we'll discuss each book through the lenses of content, context, and craft. All that's required between sessions is to read.
Reading List: The Best American Short Stories 2025, edited by Celeste Ng; The Best Short Stories of 2025 (O Henry Award Winners), edited by Edward P. Jones.
The short story is a constantly evolving form. In this class, we'll read the most recent editions of the two most influential literary short story anthologies–The Best American Short Stories and the O. Henry Award winners–to see what short stories look like today.
We'll consider what this year's stories have to say about our time, and which stories are new classics. By the end of class, students will have found some new favorite up and coming writers, developed a greater sensitivity to their own preferences in literature, and expanded their reading palates to include new ideas.
Please Note: Class does not meet Monday, October 12th..
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.