GrubStreet

GrubStreet was founded in 1997 in Boston, Massachusetts by Eve Bridburg. At first, GrubStreet had two instructors (Bridburg one of them), teaching eight students in workshops centered on fiction. By 2001 GrubStreet had nearly 100 students, more than a dozen instructors, and courses in poetry, screenwriting, nonfiction, and playwriting. GrubStreet became a nonprofit in 2002.{{cite web|url=http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi-page/documents/05016163.asp|title=Putting in a good word|author=Miliard, Mike|date=October 13, 2005|work=The Phoenix|accessdate=March 29, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609181519/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi-page/documents/05016163.asp|archive-date=June 9, 2012|url-status=dead}}

Beginning in 2012, GrubStreet led a coalition promoting a "Literary Cultural District," which would include "some 80 literary landmarks in downtown Boston, Back Bay, and Beacon Hill," according to Boston Magazine.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2014/10/03/literary-cultural-district-boston-map/

|title=Local Groups Want an Official Literary Cultural District in Boston

|last=Shao |first=Yiqing |work=Boston Magazine

|quote=The story goes that two years ago, GrubStreet founder and executive director Eve Bridburg was talking with Anita Walker, executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, lamenting about the lack of a spotlight on Boston’s literary events.

|date=June 26, 2014

|access-date=November 5, 2021}} The coalition was led by GrubStreet but included other partners, including the Boston Public Library, the Boston Book Festival, and Emerson College. In October 2014, the Massachusetts Cultural Council officially recognized Boston's Literary Cultural District.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2014/10/03/literary-cultural-district-boston-map/

|title=The Boston Literary Cultural District Is Officially Official [Updated]

|last=Shao |first=Yiqing |work=Boston Magazine

|quote=The campaign for an 'LCD [Boston Literary Cultural District] was spearheaded by GrubStreet, helmed by founder executive director Eve Bridburg, and several other local organizations including the BPL, the Boston Book Festival, Emerson College, Suffolk University, and more.

|date=October 3, 2014

|access-date=November 5, 2021}}

In 2018, GrubStreet was chosen by the Boston Planning & Development Agency to get construction funding and below-market rent for moving from its 3,500-square-foot headquarters in Boston's Back Bay to a 13,000-square-foot space in a luxury condo building in the Seaport District. GrubStreet, which had already received a $2 million grant from the Calderwood Charitable Foundation for the transition, said that it would still need to raise "substantial funds" for the move.{{Cite web |url=https://www.boston.com/culture/books/2018/12/19/grubstreet-to-get-seaport-arts-space/

|title=GrubStreet to get Seaport arts space

|last=Shanahan |first=Mark |work=Boston Globe

|quote=The new 13,000-square-foot space, which GrubStreet will lease for a substantially below-market rate, will include a bookstore, cafe, podcast studio, classrooms, and an area for readings and storytelling events. City officials hope its year-round programs will draw a more diverse crowd to the predominantly white, wealthy neighborhood.

|date=December 19, 2018

|access-date=November 5, 2021}} In 2019, after successfully raising $8 million, GrubStreet relocated to the Seaport District.{{Cite web |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/87771-grub-street-tackles-art-friend-fallout.html

|title=Grub Street Tackles 'Art Friend' Fallout

|last=Green |first=Alex |work=Publishers Weekly

|quote=Following a multi-year $8 million capital campaign, Grub recently relocated to a 13,000 sq. ft. location in Boston’s Seaport district.

|date=November 1, 2021

|access-date=November 2, 2021}}

In October 2021, GrubStreet came under scrutiny after journalist Robert Kolker wrote a piece for The New York Times magazine detailing the multi-year ongoing litigation between two Grubstreet employees: Muse & Marketplace director Sonya Larson and former Grubstreet student Dawn Dorland. Dorland had accused Larson of plagiarism based on her use of a letter, written by Dorland, in a published short story; this accusation prompted Larson to sue Dorland for defamation.{{cite news |last=Kolker |first=Robert |title=Who is the Bad Art Friend? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/magazine/dorland-v-larson.html|work=NY Times |quote=She started a private Facebook group, inviting family and friends, including some fellow writers from GrubStreet, the Boston writing center where Dorland had spent many years learning her craft.|date=October 5, 2021|access-date=November 2, 2021}} Kolker's piece brought new attention to text messages and emails exchanged by GrubStreet employees and leader who were close friends and colleagues of Larson's, including GrubStreet's artistic director Christopher Castellani.{{Cite web|title=Author at the center of 'Bad Art Friend' controversy leaves GrubStreet following review|url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/10/29/sonya-larson-bad-art-friend-leaves-grubstreet|date=October 29, 2021|access-date=November 2, 2021 |work=WBUR|quote=In another, GrubStreet artistic director Christopher Castellani writes of Dorland, 'my mission in life is going to be to exact revenge on this pestilence of a person.'|language=en}}

In response to concerns expressed by its members, GrubStreet launched an investigation.{{Cite news |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/12/metro/grubstreet-boston-area-writing-center-who-is-bad-art-friend-says-its-launching-an-investigation-after-nyt-story/

|title=GrubStreet, Boston-area writing center of 'Who Is The Bad Art Friend? says it’s launching a review after NYT story

|last=Kaufman |first=Amanda |work=Boston Globe

|quote='Bluntly, we are appalled by the disconnect between GrubStreet's stated values and the alleged behavior by some that has come to light,' the statement read.

|date=October 12, 2021

|access-date=November 2, 2021}} On October 29, 2021, GrubStreet announced that, based on a third party review, it had asked not only Sonya Larson but also Director of Online Learning Alison Murphy and board member Jennifer De Leon to step down from their leadership roles.{{cite web |last=Eve |first=Bridburg |title=Update for the GrubStreet Community 10.29.21 |url=https://grubstreet.org/blog/update-for-the-grubstreet-community-102921/|date=October 29, 2021|access-date= October 30, 2021}} Castellani, who stayed on, posted a letter on the official GrubStreet website, expressing regret for causing Dawn Dorland personal hurt.{{cite web |last=Castellani |first=Christopher |title=Message from Christopher Castellani |url=https://grubstreet.org/blog/message-from-christopher-castellani/ |date= October 30, 2021|access-date= November 2, 2021}}

The Muse and the Marketplace, is an annual weekend-long writer's symposium hosted by GrubStreet.{{cite web | url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/05/04/novices_peek_at_literary_world/ | title=Novices peek at literary world | work=The Boston Globe | date=May 4, 2008 | accessdate=March 29, 2012 | author=McKenna, Kathleen}} In 2010, it was attended by over 900 writers and publishing professionals.{{cite web | url=http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/07/04/empowering_writers/ | title=Empowering writers | work=The Boston Globe | date=July 4, 2010 | accessdate=March 29, 2012 | author=Gardner, Jan}}

Many authors, agents, and editors have been involved with GrubStreet's Muse and the Marketplace. In 2010, Chuck Palahniuk was the keynote speaker.[https://grubstreet.org/blog/this-is-why-were-alive-chuck-palahniuk-2010-keynote-video/ GrubStreet blog (April 23, 2020)] In 2013, the keynote speaker was Amanda Palmer.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2013/05/06/amanda-palmer-muse-and-marketplace/

|title=What You Missed at Muse and the Marketplace: Amanda Palmer’s Keynote Speech

|last=Burdge |first=Margaret |work=Boston Magazine

|quote=At the annual event, Boston’s writers flocked to the Park Plaza to learn how to become a successful, published writer. Grappling with the future of authorship was the running concern of the conference.

|date=May 6, 2013

|access-date=November 5, 2021}}

Muse and the Marketplace was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVD-19 pandemic, but was held virtually in 2021, with panelists including Alexander Chee, Vievee Francis, and Nick Flynn.{{Cite web |url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/03/h2-write-it

|title=Write It!

|last=Brown |first=Nell Porter |work=Harvard Magazine

|quote=This year's panelists include (from top left): Alexander Chee, Laura Van den Berg, Jennifer De Leon, Vievee Francis, and Nick Flynn.

|date=2021

|access-date=November 5, 2021}}

Between 2007 and 2015, GrubStreet awarded prizes to a writer publishing his/her second book or beyond. As the goal of the prize was to bring writers to Boston, only writers whose primary residence was not Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, or Rhode Island were eligible. The award was discontinued in 2015.{{Cite web|url=https://grubstreet.org/about/past-programs/national-book-prize/|title=The GrubStreet National Book Prize {{!}} 2006 - 2014 {{!}} GrubStreet|website=grubstreet.org|access-date=2019-11-21}}

Previous Book Prize winners include:

• Fiction: Sheri Joseph, Stray (MacAdam/Cage)
• Poetry: Linda Gregg, In the Middle Distance (Graywolf Press)
• Non-Fiction: Susan Richards Shreve, Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR’s Polio Haven (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

• Fiction: Joshua Furst, The Sabotage Café (Alfred A. Knopf)
• Poetry: Rebecca Seiferle, Wild Tongue (Copper Canyon Press)
• Non-Fiction: Dinty W. Moore, Between Panic and Desire (University of Nebraska Press)

• Fiction: Alan Cheuse, To Catch Lightning (Sourcebooks)
• Poetry: Rick Barot, Want (Sarabande Books)
• Non-Fiction: Not awarded

• Fiction: Vestal McIntyre, Lake Overturn (Harper Perennial)
• Poetry: Debra Allbery, Finbul-Winter (Four Way Books)
• Non-Fiction: Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, Hiroshima in the Morning (The Feminist Press)

• Non-Fiction Winner: Wendy Call, No Word for Welcome: The Mexican Village Faces the Global Economy (The University of Nebraska Press)
• Finalist: Sandra Beasley, Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life (Crown Publishing)
• Finalist: Daniele Cadena Deulen, The Riots (University of Georgia Press)

• Fiction Winner: Eileen Pollack, Breaking and Entering (Four Way Books)
• Honorable Mention: Mandy Keifetz, Flea Circus: A Bestiary of Grief (New Issues)
• Honorable Mention: Valerie Laken, Separate Kingdoms (Harper Perennial)
• Honorable Mention: Scott Nadelsom, Aftermath (Hawthorne)

• Non-Fiction Winner: Ellen Cassedy, We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust (The University of Nebraska Press)

• Poetry Winner: Rob Schlegel, January Machine (Four Way Books)

• Fiction Winner: Josh Weil, The Great Glass Sea (Grove Atlantic)

{{reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.grubstreet.org/ Official website]
• [http://www.pifmagazine.com/2013/03/eve-bridburg/ Interview with founder Eve Bridburg] at Pif Magazine

Category:1997 establishments in Massachusetts

Category:Arts centers in Massachusetts

Category:Creative writing programs

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Boston

Category:Seaport District

Category:Writers' centres and houses