The Big Ugly Review is the featured journal at the upcoming Babylon Salon Winter Reading on Saturday, December 6th at 7 p.m. The performance will be held at Cantina, 580 Sutter Street. (just off Union Square). As always, this rollicking reading and performance series promises great literature and fine cocktails. Poet and essayist Lola Haskins headlines the evening, and April Sinclair will read from her work in the current issue of Big Ugly. For more information, please visit www.babylonsalon.com. Admission is free!
On Thursday, December 4th, join the SF Writers Grotto instructors for hors d’oeuvres and a glass (or two) of holiday cheer, and hear about our upcoming winter writing classes!
More info at http://www.sfgrotto.org/classes
Our weekly and weekend classes cover everything from muck-raking to memoir, fiction to free-writing, finding the story to forming a writing group. The classes are designed to help students learn the craft of both fiction and non-fiction, as well as give them strategies for publishing.
Teachers will be on-hand to talk about their classes and answer any questions. As an added bonus, students who sign up during the event, will receive a discount on the class fee.
And just in time for the holidays – autographed copies of books by Grotto authors, as well as fabulous Mexican bags (brought back by our own Laura Fraser) will be on sale, while they last!
The Holiday Party/Meet the Teachers Night will be held at the SF Writers Grotto, 490 Second Street (at Bryant) in San Francisco. The event begins at 6:30 pm, and will run until 8:00 pm.
More info at http://www.sfgrotto.org/classes
GROTTO CLASSES RETURN! MARK YOUR CALENDAR TO MEET THE TEACHERS ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4
The very popular Grotto classes are returning! Beginning the week of January 12, 2009, we'll be offering weekly evening classes, as well as weekend workshops. Classes will cover every genre from fiction to non, muck-raking to memoir. Visit the Classes page of the Grotto website at http://www.sfgrotto.org/classes.html for more information and to register. (These classes always fill early.) And remember, a Grotto class makes a fabulous holiday present!
Also, save the date. Thursday, December 4, 2008, will be Meet the Teachers Night. Come by the Grotto, have a glass of wine, and find out more about our classes. Instructors will be on hand to talk about their classes and answer questions. 6:30 pm until 7:30 pm at the Grotto.
DON’T MISS STEVE AT WRITERS WITH DRINKS THIS SATURDAY AT THE MAKEOUT ROOM
Stephen Elliott will be reading at Writers Wiith Drinks at The Makeout Room, 7:30pm, Saturday, November 8. The evening, “Writers In Drag: Writers read works they've written outside their normal genres!” features not only Steve, but Michelle Tea, Jaime Cortez, Halo Hopkinson, Austin Grossman, and Annalee Newitz. For more information, see http://www.writerswithdrinks.com/
Continue reading Nov Grotto Notes -- Classes and More!.
The new lineup of Grotto writing classes beginning Jan 12, 2009, has just been announced!
Find out more at
On Saturday, October 11, the annual Litquake festival goes out with a bang. The final night is devoted to Litcrawl, the literary equivalent of drinking from the firehose: dozens of readings in a host of venues, all more or less within strolling distance of each other. Go to litquake.org to peruse the full schedule, and while you're planning your path remember us!
We've had a Grotto event on the Litcrawl program for several years now, and we always look forward to it. This year it'll serve as an intimate coda, a small-scale bookend for the larger Grotto Nights event the previous Saturday. This time around the host is Jason Roberts, and the all-Grotto lineup includes Po Bronson, Chris Colin, Rodes Fishburne, Stephanie Losee, Janis Cooke Newman and Todd Oppenheimer.
Rumor has it that this will be an "off the page" evening: the readers will be sharing behind-the-scenes stories about what DOESN'T make it to the page, and why. Expect unprinted sex scenes, tales of editorial clashes and angst between the lines. At the Elbo Room (647 Valencia Street), starting at 7:15. It's free, but you'll have to be over 21.
For more information, see http://www.litquake.org/the-festival/lit-crawl-2008/
Hope to see you there!
Tickets are going FAST! Don't Miss a Special LITQUAKE GROTTO NIGHTS on OCTOBER 4 - A NIGHT OF INTIMACY AT THE GROTTO |
Grotto Nights is Back with “INTIMACY" -- a special LITQUAKE multi-media extravaganza of tight genes, body fluids, and misplaced affections. The evening will feature authors Mary Roach reading from her latest, “Bonk,” plus David Ewing Duncan, Elizabeth Bernstein, Stephen Elliott, Laura Fraser, and Jennifer Traig. Also highlighted will be the work of filmmakers Caveh Zahedi [“I Am A Sex Addict”] and Jay Rosenblatt [“I Used To Be A Filmmaker.”] The evening also features an animated film by the Forbidden Fruit Collective, an audio documentary by Jennifer Durban and art by JD Beltran, Emily Korson, and Jan Blythe. Finally, you’re in for a very special treat with an original music, sound, and video performance by an ensemble that includes composer Marc Capelle, jazz vocalist Faye Carol, and hydrogeologist Michael J. Taffet.
Come and get under the covers with us for an evening of creative hanky panky.
TIME/PLACE: SATURDAY OCTOBER 4, AT THE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, 3200 CALIFORNIA STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118, (415) 292-1200. EVENT STARTS AT 8:00, WITH A RECEPTION FOLLOWING THE PROGRAM.
Tickets are going fast! Doors open at 7:30. $20 for JCCSF and Litquake members, $22 for general public.
No-Host Bar/21+. After the event there will be a special party for the audience and performers.
For more information, see http://www.jccsf.org/content_
About Grotto Nights
From 2001 to 2005 the eclectic evenings of literature, film, art and marching bands at Grotto Nights were a mini-San Francisco institution, as were the parties that followed them. But the footlights went out when the event outgrew its space at the Main Library and the writers of the Grotto had to move to new venues. This year, we’re back for a special Grotto Nights at Litquake, and room for everyone at the Jewish Community Center!
SAN FRANCISCO WRITER’S GROTTO AND WALDEN HOUSE HOST SPECIAL SCREENING OF “PROTAGONIST” DOCUMENTARY
Screening of Academy Award-Winning Director’s Film Benefits Walden House
WHAT: A special Bay Area screening of “Protagonist,” a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Jessica Yu. Hosted by the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto and Walden House, the screening benefits Walden House’s programs for formerly incarcerated mothers seeking to re-unite with their children and families.
WHEN: Thursday, October 16, 2008
7:30pm – Introduction and readings by ex-offender authors
8:00pm – Screening of film
WHERE: Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland
(510) 452-3556
TICKETS: $10 - $15 (sliding scale) at the door; all proceeds will go toward Walden House programs that assist formerly incarcerated females seeking to reunite with their children and families.
CONTACT: www.waldenhouse.com or Email: jloya@waldenhouse.org
BACKGROUND:
“Protagonist” explores extremism and the limits of certainty. This visually inventive documentary weaves the stories of four men - a German terrorist, a bank robber, an "ex-gay" evangelist, and a martial arts student - consumed by personal odysseys that lead to radical reversals.
This Saturday, September 20, 7pm at the Makeout Room, is the second to last Progressive Reading of the year. All advance ticket sales go to support Barack Obama. This is a great way to support our candidate and see a great literary event. Purchase advance tickets here.
This month's readers include Daniel Handler, Aimee Bender, Glen David Gold, Katie Crouch, and Jane Ganahl.
Hope to see you there. More information at www.progressivereadingseries.org.
Here's the September 2008 update from The Grotto, the cooperative workspace
of writers, filmmakers, and artists in downtown San Francisco. Also, the
GrottoNEWS is online! For current updates on the goings-on at the Grotto,
check out the GrottoNEWS at http://www.sfgrotto.org/news.html
JD'S FILM FEATURED AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION (!)
Grotto dweller JD Beltran was selected by curator Steve Dietz and the Walker
Art Center in Minneapolis to create a film specifically to be shown at the
Republican National Convention next week as part of the Center's "The
Unconvention 2008" project. The film, "Politics, Mud, and Ketchup" is now
on Youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74kIVj4V5_c
of writers, filmmakers, and artists in downtown San Francisco. Also, the
GrottoNEWS is online! For current updates on the goings-on at the Grotto,
check out the GrottoNEWS at http://www.sfgrotto.org/news.html
JD'S FILM FEATURED AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION (!)
Grotto dweller JD Beltran was selected by curator Steve Dietz and the Walker
Art Center in Minneapolis to create a film specifically to be shown at the
Republican National Convention next week as part of the Center's "The
Unconvention 2008" project. The film, "Politics, Mud, and Ketchup" is now
on Youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74kIVj4V5_c
Continue reading September Grotto Notes.
It's a big day in culinary history-—the 50th anniversary of instant ramen. NPR's All Things Considered ran this remembrance of its inventor, Momofuku Ando:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93954544.
