Writers' Room of Boston

2012 Exquisite Corpse at the Boston Book Festival

writersroomofboston — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:28:34 +0000

Every year at the Boston Book Festival we put out an antique typewriter and start a game of Exquisite Corpse.

Did you pound out some words when you visited our tent? Curious to see how the Exquisite Corpse turned out? Here it is, in all its surreal glory! WROB Exquisite Corpse 2012

When good things happen to good writers!

writersroomofboston — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:50:27 +0000

OMG, this bit of humor lit from our own Jason Kaufman has it all: Philip Roth, Siri, and a cameo by that “goyishe yutz” Jonathan Franzen. Read it here at Defenestration.

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“Last year I burned my father.” Priyatam Mudivarti’s short story, “Blue Flame,” appears in the Winter 2013 issue of the Baltimore Review.

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2012 Writers’ Room of Boston Fellow Shuchi Saraswat received a 2012 Gulliver Travel Research Grant to conduct research for her novel from The Speculative Literature Foundation. The foundation awards one $800 travel grant annually.

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Great news for alumna Diana Renn, who got a two-book deal with Viking for YA mysteries: Latitude Zero will be published in 2014 and Blue Voyage will come out in 2015. Diana also got a movie option deal for her first book, Tokyo Heist—which was written in the Room—with the production company Anonymous Content.

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Mazel tov to WROB alumna Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, whose short essay “Cello” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The essay was originally published in TriQuarterly Online.

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We’re so thrilled that our own Ken Calhoun sold his first novel, Black Moon. The novel examines “how society loses its grip on itself through the lens of an insomniac epidemic.”

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“Buds and Bells, and Stars Without a Name” is the gorgeous title of our own Lisa Perkins’ short story, which won the 2012 New Millennium Prize for Fiction. You can read the story here.

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Congratulations to Eric Grunwald, alum extraordinaire, whose short story appears in the most recent issue of Prick of the Spindle.

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Our own alumnus Gary Roma was featured in the New York Times Magazine’s column, Who Made That?, answering everything you wanted to know about dental floss (but were too afraid to ask).

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WROB reviews The Green Shore by Natalie Bakopoulos: our own Rebeeca Tuhus-Dubrow on Natalie Bakopoulos’s debut novel in the New York Times; WROB admin Anne Gray Fischer’s review appears in Ploughshares online.

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Anne Gray Fischer also has a review of Good Girls Revolt by Lynn Povich in Bookslut.

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Our own Wendy Wunder’s novel, The Probability of Miracles, is out in paperback! Buy it today!

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We are so proud of our WROBers who won Massachusetts Cultural Council grants this year: Lisa Gruenberg for fiction, Danielle Georges for poetry, and our once-upon-a-time WROBer Caitlin O’Neil. Full list of MCC grantees is here.

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Congratulations to our own Rebecca Givens Rolland, who won two prizes this year: the 2011 May Sarton New Hampshire Book Prize for her poetry collection, The Wreck of Birds. She received $1000 and her book was recently published by Bauhan Publishing. AND Rebecca won the 2011 Dana Award for her short fiction, “You’d Rather Be Tender.” So proud to have Rebecca as our own!

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Literary happenings near us

writersroomofboston — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:39:51 +0000

Wednesday, February 20 at 7pm

Two Plays, One House: A Raisin in the Sun and Clybourne Park

Strand Theater, 543 Columbia Road, Boston

Free and open to the public

The Huntington Theatre Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, and the City of Boston’s Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events are bringing it: Members of the casts of A Raisin in the Sun and Clybourne Park come together at the Strand Theatre for this special event hosted by Karen Holmes Ward of WCVB-TV featuring scenes from each show, Q&A with artists, and the chance to win tickets to both plays. Rad. Details here.

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Thursday, February 21 at 7:30 pm

Terrance Hayes and Ani Gjika Robert

Lowell Memorial Reading at Boston University

The Castle, 225 Bay State Road, Boston

Free and open to the public

OMG!

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Thursday, February 28, from 6:45pm to 8:00pm

JP Writes & Invites: Jennifer Haigh

Boston Public Library, Jamaica Plain Branch

The New York Times called local writer Jennifer Haigh “an expert natural storyteller with an acute sense of her characters’ humanity.” Her latest collection of short stories, News From Heaven, was released in January. Join Jennifer as she reads from her work and talks craft with the audience in my local library! Details here.

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Thursday, March 7 at 7pm

Jamie Quatro and Megan Mayhew Bergman

Newtonville Books

Free and open

Jamie Quatro reads from her collection I Want to Show You More and Megan Mayhew Bergman reads from Birds of a Lesser Paradise (Ed. note: title story made me cry). Hosted by Jill McCorkle. Deets!

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Those were some highlights from our monthly newsletter—but not the whole shebang! Want to get these newsletters directly to your inbox? Email us at info@writersroomofboston.org and write “Newsletter, please!”

Deadlines: Our most faithful source of inspiration!

writersroomofboston — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 18:01:56 +0000

February 28, poems Paddlefish, of Mount Mary College, is accepting submissions for the William Kloefkorn Award. Winner receives $500 + publication. $12 entry fee for two poems. Guidelines here.

February 28, writers with children The Sustainable Arts Foundation supports artists and writers with children–thank you, Sustainable Arts Foundation! Guidelines here.

March 15, multigenre Gulf Coast is running its annual contest for poetry, nonfiction/lyric essay, and fiction. Stanley Plumly, Maggie Shipstead, and Darin Strauss are judges. $1,500 and publication to the winner in each genre, and $250 to two honorable mentions in each genre. There is also a reading fee. Guidelines here.

March 15, children’s book writers and illustrators The SCBWI Work-In-Progress Grants are designed to assist children’s book writers and illustrators in the completion of a specific project, and are funded by Amazon.com (mixed feeling about this, but a grant is a grant). Guidelines here.

March 31, poetry books Four Way Books is running its annual Levis Prize. $1000+publication+ a featured reading in NYC. Judged by James Longenbach. Complete guidelines here.

April 1, poems Indiana Review is running its annual poetry contest. $1000 + pub. $20 entry fee includes subscription. Nikky Finney judges. Guidelines here.

April 2, multigenre Ploughshares is running its 3rd annual Emerging Writer’s Contest. $1000 in three genres (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) + publication. Contest fee of $24 includes a one-year subscription to Ploughshares OR current subscribers submit for free. Boston writers, this is our very own homegrown litmag & getting a subscription to Pshares means you’ve already won! Guidelines here.

April 30, poetry books Trio House Press is runs two annual contests, one for poets who have previously published 1 or 2 books and one for poetry books regardless of the author’s publication history. Winner receives $1000 + publication and 20 copies of the books. Reading fee is $25. Guidelines here.

June 1, multigenre spiritual writing Tiferet Journal is running its annual contest for poems, stories, and essays. $400 + pub (?) “Our mission is to help raise individual and global consciousness, and we publish writing from a variety of religious and spiritual traditions.” Caroline Leavitt, Dawn Raffel, J.P. Dancing Bear judge. Guidelines here.

July 1, multigenre writing about health Bellevue Literary Review is running its annual contest for exceptional fiction, nonfiction, and poetry about health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. $1,000 + publication in the Spring 2014 issue of theBellevue Literary Review. Nathan Englander, Helen Benedict, and Tina Chang judge. Entry fee is $15 per submission. Guidelines here.

Those were some highlights from our monthly newsletter—but not the whole shebang! Want to get our newsletter directly to your inbox? Email us at info@writersroomofboston.org and write “Newsletter, please!”