SHERI JOSEPH: won Grub Street’s fiction prize for Stray. |
The obvious part of Grub Street’s two-fold mission is to get Boston writing, something the independent writing center has succeeded in doing through workshops and classes for the past 10 years. Less obvious, and perhaps more important, is getting writers to Boston - helping to make this city a more attractive and hospitable place for writers to live and to visit. To that end, the non-profit organization recently introduced its first national literary award, the Grub Street Book Prize, to be awarded three times annually - in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry - to writers living outside of New England who have published at least one book. Winners receive $500 and the opportunity to give a reading or teach a free workshop in Boston.“A lot of publishers don’t send their authors through Boston,” says Christopher Castellani, artistic director of Grub Street. There’s a conception among publishers, he explains, that the press here won’t generate sufficient buzz to justify a stop on a book tour. “The Book Prize is our way of trying to get writers here who wouldn’t otherwise come through Boston,” Castellani says.
Grub Street announced its first fiction-prize winner on Monday. Sheri Joseph won for her novel Stray, due on shelves this Friday. Of dozens of entrants, Stray - a “literary page turner” about a musician torn between his Mennonite wife and a man from his past - stood out for its “subtle attention to structure,” Castellani says. Joseph, author of the short-story collection Bear Me Safely Over and a teacher of creative writing at Georgia State University, will lead a free craft class for Grub members on May 3, and will also be a guest author at the annual Muse and the Marketplace conference on May 5 and 6.
“Our motto,” says Castellani, “is ‘Where Boston gets writing,’ and bringing writers here is one way to answer that.”
On the Web
Grub Street: http://www.grubstreet.org/
Related:
Cold comforts, Confessions of an editor, Review: On the road with David Foster Wallace, More 
- Cold comforts
In photographs, indie wünderwaif Miranda July stares back at us with big, wet blue eyes, curls dangling about her face, lips glistening and parted just so.
- Confessions of an editor
There’s a quiet courage in these essays, and a revelatory sense of the continuing challenge of pressing on.
- Review: On the road with David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace had a crush on Alanis Morissette. He drank Diet Rite soda by the case. David Lynch changed him.
- Obama bicycle cycle
In case you haven’t already heard, Barack Obama is your new bicycle.
- In Bods we trust
Issues of identity have captivated Somerville author Pagan Kennedy since her days as an Allstonite ’zine pioneer back in the mid ’80s.
- The who behind What
Listen to a discussion with Dave Eggers, Samantha Power, and Valentino Achak Deng, recorded at Harvard's Memorial Hall on February 26, 2007
- Bookie joint
Vendela Vida drank reindeer blood in the living room of a Sami healer on her third trip to Lapland.
- Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap Box
Once the suds of choice for dirty hippies, Dr. Bronner’s is now a staple of the Whole Foods set, and Sara Lamm’s documentary looks at Dr. B's “All One God Faith” mission.
- PRC anniversary show
The Photographic Resource Center (PRC) at Boston University, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, has announced a call for entries for the 12th installment of its annual — and acclaimed — juried exhibition.
- WBUR slashes arts coverage
WBUR, the Boston-based, Boston University-owned NPR radio affiliate, will no longer carry arts reviews, the station’s long-time critic and editor Bill Marx said Thursday.
- The gang’s all hare
He still draws lots of Tyler Durden wannabees, but last night Palahniuk delivered a box full of warm fuzzies to Coolidge Corner.
- Less
Topics:
Books
, Christopher Castellani
