A Writer’s Haven: Grub Street, Boston

You may not be able to tell from this here blog, but I was an English major with a Creative Writing concentration in college and finished a 200-page collection of six intertwined short stories as my thesis! It’s pretty funny to read over that effort now, but it did win an award at the time, so I guess it’s okay …

So, with my writing background, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Grub Street, Boston’s premiere writing center, and the U.S.’s second largest writing center. Grub just moved into fancy new digs on Boylston Street downtown (right next to their old digs, actually), so they wanted documentation of the lovely new space, classes taking place there, and their Friday night shindig to celebrate the move, “Grub Goes Up!”

First, there are loads of cool colors and groovy furniture in the new office:

Windows overlook the Boston Common, and classrooms open both onto a central hallway, and each other!

The new office is at 162 Boylston Street, the awesome Steinway piano building, Steinert Hall. Gorgeous! Period details and charm galore.

I spent an afternoon photographing classes and workshops in progress at Grub, and man, do I want to go back to writing now! The courses are so intriguing and wonderful – the tidbits I got to overhear were fascinating.

The “Grub Goes Up” party was such a fun evening! The whole space was decorated in springy white and green with some daffodils sprinkled in here and there, too:

There was a Word Game room for those inclined to play the likes of Bananagrams, Boggle, etc…:

A very special orangey-red typewriter was unveiled as part of the ceremonies – isn’t it gorgeous?

Speeches were spoken, Grub jello shots were shot, and celebrity author bartenders, including Anita Shreve, Richard Russo, Sue Miller, Mameve Medwed, Margot Livesey,  Ann Hood, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Mako Yoshikawa, Brunonia Barry, Daphne Kalotay, Ladette Randolph, Pagan Kennedy, and Jennifer Haigh were there, serving up Poe’s Punch! What a scene!

It was an English major’s dream. To top it all off, the Boston Typewriter Orchestra played a rousing set. These guys are amazing!

Thank you to the wonderful staff at Grub Street (and aren’t they all so cute?) for a fantastic evening.

I will see you all again soon – when I take a workshop!