GrubStreet Holds 2023 Summer Open House

by Rick Winterson

Simply but accurately stated, GrubStreet is a modern “Center for Creative Writing” located in the South Boston Seaport District.

Now at 50 Liberty Drive in one of Joe Fallon’s Fan Pier buildings, GrubStreet is the nation’s largest creative writing center. It offers unique mentoring for original writing of many kinds. GrubStreet was originally founded in 1997 by Eve Bridberg, who also taught there. From just off downtown Boylston Street, GrubStreet moved to the South Boston Seaport in 2019, weathering the pandemic and finally reaching its 25th anniversary last year. During that quarter century, GrubStreet’s workshops grew from eight students in its first year to 10,000 in 2022, including over 1,000 teen-aged (13- 18) writers. By now, GrubStreet’s reputation extends nationwide, and even world-wide. Last Wednesday evening, GrubStreet held its 2023 Fall Open House and Showcase 8/9. The entire creative writing center space inside 50 Liberty Drive was open for walkarounds, including classrooms, the Porter Square Bookstore (Boston Edition) on the ground floor, and the new “fabulist” Café. The Cafe provided the GrubStreet Open House with an elegant hors- d’oeuvres buffet. Picture windows overlooking Boston Harbor made for excellent background views. Nearly a hundred potential authors and GrubStreet patrons attended. The GrubStreet staff and mentors talked with everyone who came and counselled those interested in pursuing improvements to their creative writings. GrubStreet memberships and classroom registrations were quickly conducted on the spot. The evening’s activities closed with short readings from their own works by four award-winning, published authors living in the Boston area.

The name “GrubStreet” comes originally from London, England. During the 1800s, Grub Street in London was part of a poor neighborhood that was home to hack writers, unsuccessful poets, small bookstores, freelance journalists, and low-volume printers and publishers. But it was also home (for a while) to famed English authors such as Samuel Johnson and Alexander Pope – Grub Street’s literary overtones still continue into the 21st Century. GrubStreet in South Boston moved to the Seaport District five years ago; it has now become a permanent part of our cultural scene. More information about GrubStreet and its creative writers’ programs can be found at programs@grubstreet.com