1-on-1 manuscript consultations

Michelle Hoover

• Consults On: Short Fiction, The Novel, Memoir, Individual Essay, and Book-Length Nonfiction.
• Interested Themes: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Horror/Suspense, Travel Writing, Personal Essay/Creative Nonfiction/Memoir

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  Michelle Hoover is a full-time instructor at Boston University and has published short stories and novel excerpts in numerous journals, including Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, Night Train and Confrontation. She has been the Philip Roth Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell, a MacDowell Fellow, and in 2005 the winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award for Fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and published in Best New American Voices. Her novel, The Quickening, will be published by Other Press in 2010.

Tim Horvath

• Consults On: short fiction, the novel, poetry, individual essays, and book-length nonfiction
• Interested Themes: philosophy, psychology, music, science, humor, and the role of landscape in fiction

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  Tim Horvath received his MFA from the University of New Hampshire, where he won the Thomas Williams Memorial Prize and the Lt. Albert Charait Award. In 2006, his story "The Understory" won the Raymond Carver Short Story Award, whose judge was Bill Henderson, founder and president of the Pushcart Press; it was nominated for a Pushcart. "Circulation" won the '06 Prize of the Society for the Study of the Short Story, and will be published in book form in March 2009 by Sunnyoutside Press. Tim has received a Yaddo Residency and been a four-time finalist in Glimmer Train competitions. His fiction has been published or is forthcoming in Alimentum: The Literature of Food, Fiction, Puerto del Sol, Web Conjunctions, Diagram, Sleepingfish, 3 A.M., and elsewhere, and his poetry appears in Night Train. He has completed a short story manuscript called The Complicator: Stories, as well as the draft of a novel, entitled Goodbye in Many Languages. Examples of his writing and audio samples from the novel can be found at www.timhorvath.com. Tim was a high school English teacher for nine years and teaches fiction writing at Chester College of New England and the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. At Grub Street he has developed the classes "Cortiscrawl: Writing with the Brain in Mind" and "More and Less: Varieties of Minimalism and Maximalism."

Michael Marano

• Consults On: Genre Fiction, Short Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Individual Essay, Book-Length Nonfiction, Journalism, Screenwriting, and Feature Writing.
• Interested Themes: Genre fiction, including, but not limited to: Mystery, Thrillers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Western. Popular Non-Fiction and Non-Fiction about pop culture topics and personalities. Magazine and newspaper writing about film, TV, media, music, including reviews and criticism. Personal essays.

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  Michael Marano is a literary horror and dark science fiction writer, with stories in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 11 and Outsiders: 22 All-New Stories from the Edge; his first novel Dawn Song won the Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild Awards. He is Fiction Editor of the award-winning dark fiction magazine Chiaroscuro (www.chizine.com) and has worked one-on-one with authors in the development of their short fiction. Stories From the Plague Years, a collection of Marano's new and reprinted short fiction, is now in preparation at Cemetery Dance Publications. Since 1990, he has also been reviewing movies and doing pop culture commentary for the Public Radio Satellite System program Movie Magazine International, syndicated in more than 111 markets in the US and Canada. Mike is a former Writing instructor in the SUNY system, and his non-fiction has appeared in venues like The Boston Phoenix, The Weekly Dig, The Independent Weekly, Paste Magazine, and Science Fiction Universe.

Amy Marcott

• Consults On: Short Fiction, The Novel

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  Amy Marcott has taught creative writing and composition at Penn State University, where she received an MFA. She received her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University. She is the recipient of a Somerville Arts Council fellowship, and her fiction has appeared in Memorious and Juked, was nominated for a 2009 Pushcart Prize, won third place in Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Contest, was a finalist in Glimmer Train's Fiction Open Contest, and has been nominated for Scribner's Best New American Voices anthology and the Associated Writing Programs' Intro Awards. Her first novel is currently under consideration. She has been a professional writer and editor for many years and currently plies her trade at MIT.

Elaine McArdle

• Consults On: Memoir, Journalisam.

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  Elaine McArdle ditched being a lawyer years ago in favor of journalism. She writes for a variety of publications, including Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe, and her favorite, Amplifier, a magazine for serious fans of power pop. Her reporting and writing garnered her the Massachusetts Bar Association's first-ever "Excellence in Law-Related Journalism Award," as well as awards from the American Bar Association and the New England Newspaper Association. A graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, and a former features editor at Lawyers Weekly USA, she has taught Media Law to law students and to practicing lawyers. The Migraine Brain, by Dr. Carolyn Bernstein and Elaine, was published in September 2008 by Free Press (a division of Simon & Schuster). Read more about Elaine at www.elainemcardle.com.

Jane Moore

• Consults On: The Novel, Short Fiction, Memoir, Personal Essay.
• Interested Themes: All literary fiction, with special interest in travel, medicine, music, and suspense; personal narrative nonfiction.

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  Jane Moore (a.k.a. Jenny) has provided thoughtful, constructive critiques to writers for more than a decade. Since earning her MFA in fiction writing at the New School in 2000, Jane has honed her critiquing and writing chops in master-level workshops and in one-on-one exchanges with published writers. She just finished a massive overhaul of her first novel, excerpts of which were exhibited in Boston City Hall as part of the Mayor’s Prose & Poetry program. Now she’s writing a second novel and works as an editor for literary, cultural, and financial publications. Jane has been an editor at LIT magazine and a guest artist at the Arts Mentoring Program at Girls Ranch, and is the recipient of grants from the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and Stanford University. Her defense of The Great Gatsby appeared in Grub’s The Free Press “Point/Counterpoint” column.

Wendy Mnookin

• Consults On: Poetry
• Interested Themes: Family and relationships, "truth" in poetry of family and personal history, persona poetry, arrangement of poems in a manuscript--and whatever moves you.

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  Wendy Mnookin's fourth book of poems, The Moon Makes Its Own Plea, was published by BOA Editions in 2008. Her previous collection, What He Took, won the book prize from the New England Poetry Club. She is also the recipient of a Poetry Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches a poetry workshop at Emerson College and has taught courses and workshops for children and adults throughout the Boston area. She received her BA from Radcliffe College and her MFA in Writing from Vermont College. You can find out more at www.wendymnookin.com.

Kathleen Willis Morton

• Consults On: Memoir, Poetry, Individual essay, Book-length nonfiction, Short fiction, the Novel.
• Interested themes: Narrative subject focused nonfiction, spirituality, food, travel, literary fiction, poetry, memoir.

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  Kathleen Willis Morton holds an MFA in Creative Writing. Her first book, The Blue Poppy and the Mustard Seed, was published by Wisdom Books. She has been published in Shambhala Sun Magazine, Hip Mama Magazine, and the anthology, Best Buddhist Writing 2009 published by Shambhala/Random House Publications. She can be reached at http://www.thebluepoppyandthemustardseed.com/.

Celeste Ng

• Consults On: Short Fiction, The Novel, Memoir, and Individual Essay.
• Interested Themes: Literary fiction, family issues, "culture clash," and anything that tells a good story

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  Celeste Ng received her MFA in Prose from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction. Her fiction has appeared in One Story, TriQuarterly, and Subtropics, and has been nominated for Best New American Voices. Celeste taught undergraduate creative writing at Michigan and has over six years' experience as an editor and proofreader. She lives in Cambridge and is currently at work on a novel and a collection of short stories.

KL Pereira

• Consults On: Short Fiction, The Novel, Young Adult Fiction, Poetry, Individual Essay, Screenwriting.
• Interested Themes: All forms of speculative fiction (including horror and other genre fiction), literary fiction, Cross-Genre/Experimental writing (or any writing that plays with form), fiction and nonfiction that is concerned with popular culture (particularly music, television, and film).
• Also Available For: Preparing the MFA Application, Intensive Line-Editing, Personal Writing "Coaching."

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  KL Pereira writes poetry, nonfiction, cross-genre, and memoir. Pereira has taught poetry classes and writing workshops at East Boston High School, Casa Myrna Vasquez, Freedom House, The Women's Center, and Center for New Words and has served as an editor and writer for LiP Magazine, Whats Up Magazine/Spare Change News, advocacy publications by and for the homeless and underemployed. Her work has appeared in The Pitkin Review, Girlistic Magazine, The Hub Journal: Boston's Literary Occasional, Sui Generis, Bitch Magazine, Clamor Magazine, Whats Up Magazine/Spare Change News, Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia and the forthcoming Boy Culture: An Encyclopedia, both from Greenwood Press. She holds a BA in Literature and Languages from Bard College, an MA in Gender/Cultural Studies from Simmons College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.

James Scott

• Consults On: Short Fiction, The Novel, Screenwriting, Individual Essay, and Young Adult Fiction.
• Interested Themes: All types of fiction, but lean more towards literary novels and short fiction. Non-fiction interests are pop culture (music, film), sports, and history. Screenplays of any genre are welcome.

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  James Scott has published fiction in One Story, American Short Fiction, Saint Ann's Review and others. He received his MFA from Emerson College in December 2007. While there, he was a recipient of the Presidential Award and a runner-up for the graduate short fiction award. His work has received numerous nominations for the Pushcart Prize, as well as scholarships from Middlebury College, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, the Wesleyan University Writers' Conference, and the New York State Writers' Institute. He was also the fiction editor and managing editor of Redivider. Before Emerson, James worked for a literary agency and a production company, as well as Bob Vila and the Boston Red Sox. Currently, he writes for the music magazine Under the Radar.

Clara Silverstein

• Consults On: Poetry, Memoir, Book-Length Nonfiction, Individual essays, Journalism, Feature Writing.
• Interested Themes: Food writing and cookbooks, personality profiles, historical research, writing about race.

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  Clara Silverstein is the author of the memoir White Girl: A Story of School Desegregation (University of Georgia Press), and three cookbooks, The Boston Chef's Table, the New England Soup Factory Cookbook with chef Marjorie Druker, a top-selling soup cookbook on Amazon.com, and A White House Garden Cookbook, a chronicle with recipes of the first year of Michelle Obama's vegetable garden. A former food writer and editor at the Boston Herald, Silverstein's articles have also been published in Health magazine, Prevention, Runner's World, American Heritage, the Boston Globe, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She directs the Chautauqua Writers' Center, a summer creative writing program at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, and has led writing workshops at Grub Street, Boston University, and Emerson College.

Adam Stumacher

• Consults On: Short Fiction, The Novel, Memoir, Individual Essay, and Book-Length Nonfiction.
• Interested Themes: Travel, politics, education, and, music. Much of my own writing been inspired by my experiences living and traveling in Asia, the Mideast, and Latin America, as well as working with immigrants and refugees in inner city communities, so I am particularly interested in assisting on projects dealing with diverse settings and characters.
• Also Available for: Preparing the MFA application; Submitting to Literary Magazines; Submitting to Agencies and/or Editors; Applying for Awards, Fellowships, Conferences, and Retreats; Intensive Line-Editing, and Personal Writing "Coaching."

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  Adam Stumacher's fiction has been published in Best New American Voices, TriQuarterly, The Sun, The Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere, and was winner of the Raymond Carver Short Story Award. His nonfiction has appeared in the Guardian (UK) and the anthology Peace Under Fire. He holds degrees from Cornell University and Saint Mary's College and has received fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and the Macondo Writers’ Workshop. He has taught creative writing at MIT, the University of Wisconsin, Saint Mary's College, and Grub Street, and has many years experience as an educator in urban high schools. He is the author of a short story collection, The Neon Desert, and is currently working on a novel, entitled A Liar's Opus.

Mary Sullivan

• Consults On: The novel, young adult fiction, and nonfiction, depending on the topic
• Interested themes: I am open to all types of fiction, but I especially like literary fiction, adult and YA. My interests include the environment, parenting, Africa, Iraq, education, homelessness, music, mysteries, and family trauma of all sorts (esp. the young adult as the outsider).
• Also Available for: Intensive Line-Editing, Ghostwriting, Personal Writing Coaching, and Submitting to Agencies and/or Editors.

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  Mary Sullivan is the author of two novels, Stay and Ship Sooner, and she has ghostwritten for the Beacon Street Girls series. She has received a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant for Literature, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award, and a St. Botolph's Award. She was also chosen as one of the Borders' Original New Voices. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and their three daughters.

Holly Tavel

• Consults On: Short Fiction, Memoir, Individual Essay
• Interested Themes: Literary short stories, creative non-fiction/personal essays on any topic
• Also Available for: Preparing the MFA Application, Submitting to Literary Magazines, Applying for Awards and Fellowships, Intensive Line Editing, Personal Writing Coaching.

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  Holly Tavel is a writer and artist whose fiction has appeared in, or is forthcoming from, Torpedo, Elimae, McSweeney's, The Prague Anthology, Diagram––which awarded her its Innovative Fiction Award in 2007—and others. As the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in creative writing, she moved to Prague, Czech Republic in September 2009 to research a novel-in-progress set in 1913 Austria-Hungary. She holds an MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University, and has taught courses in fiction writing at Brown, Grub Street, and Borough of Manhattan Community College in NYC. As a former member of Glowlab, a Brooklyn-based artist's collective, she collaborated on projects involving public-space performance, social sculpture, and experimental walks and was editor of Glowlab's Neuroscape Journal. She additionally has several years of experience as a professional copy editor and copywriter.

Cam Terwilliger

• Consults On: Short Fiction, The Novel, Poetry, Memoir, Individual Essay, Journalism, Feature Writing, and Book-Length Nonfiction.
• Interested Themes: I'm curious about the whole spectrum of fiction, but I'm particularly interested in literary fiction--both short stories and the novel. Through my own writing, I have a lot of experience working with historical fiction, fantasy, magic realism, fabulist stories, and other forms of speculative fiction. Non-fiction and journalism topics I'm interested in include art and film, science, family issues, psychology, and travel.
• Also Available for: Preparing the MFA Application, Submitting to Literary Magazines, Applying for Awards, Fellowships, Conferences and Retreats, Intensive Line-Editing, and Personal Writing "Coaching."

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  Cam Terwilliger is a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fiction Fellowship and a Somerville Arts Council Fiction Fellowship. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in West Branch, Post Road, The Mid-American Review, The Greensboro Review, The Sycamore Review and others. Cam’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has received an Academy of American Poets Prize. Additionally, he holds an MFA from Emerson College, and has served as a reader for The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, and as a judge for The Rhode Island Council on the Arts Fiction Fellowship.

Becky Tuch

• Consults On: Short fiction, including short short stories; the Novel.
• Interested Themes: Jewish identity, family, relationships, dark comedy, satire.
• Also Available for: Submitting to Literary Magazines, Personal Writing "Coaching."

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  Becky Tuch has won several awards for her fiction (from Briar Cliff Review, Byline Magazine and The Tennessee Writer's Alliance) and received Honorable Mentions from the 2008 Pushcart Prize Anthology and Writers' Journal. She has published stories, poetry and art and reviews in numerous publications including Blueline, Eclipse, Folio, The Connecticut River Review, Artsmedia and The Women's Review of Books. She is also the founding editor of TheReviewReview.net, a website which reviews literary magazines and offers publishing tips to writers. Her website and commitment to the writing life were featured in The Somerville News in the winter of 2009. She teaches fiction to kids, teens and adults throughout Boston.

Laura van den Berg

• Consults On: Short Fiction
• Interested Themes: Anything and everything!
• Also Available for: Preparing the MFA Application; Submitting to Literary Magazines; Submitting to Agencies and/or Editors; Applying for Awards, Fellowships, Conferences, and Retreats; Personal Writing Coaching; Intensive Line-Editing.

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  Laura van den Berg was raised in Florida and earned her MFA at Emerson College. Her fiction has appeared in One Story, Boston Review, American Short Fiction, Conjunctions, Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008, Best New American Voices 2010, and The Pushcart Prize XXIV, among others. She is also the recipient of scholarships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers' Conferences, the 2009 Julia Peterkin Award, the 2009-2010 Emerging Writer Lectureship at Gettysburg College, and the 2010-2011 Tickner Fellowship at the Gilman School. Laura’s first collection of stories, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, published by Dzanc Books in October, was a 2009 Holiday selection for the Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” Program and long-listed for both The Story Prize and the Frank O’Connor Award.

Adrian Van Young

• Consults On: Short fiction, the novel, memoir, individual essays, book-length non-fiction, feature writing, screenwriting, playwriting, and young adult fiction.
• Interested Themes: Literary fiction, speculative fiction, historical fiction, genre fiction (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery), true crime, biography, and lyric/personal essays. 
• Also Available for: Preparing the MFA Application, Submitting to Literary Magazines, Applying for Awards and Fellowships.

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  Adrian Van Young teaches creative and expository writing at Columbia University—which he also attended for his MFA in fiction—at Grub Street, at the Calhoun School in New York City, and at the Buckingham, Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge. In 2008, he was the recipient of a Henfield/Transatlantic Foundation Prize and was nominated for inclusion in the Best New American Voices 2010 Anthology. He is the author of a collection of short fiction, “The Man Who Noticed Everything: Stories and a Novella” and is currently in the midst of writing a historical novel based on the life of William H. Mumler, the father of spirit photography, and his clairvoyant wife, Hannah Mumler. His fiction and non-fiction have been published or are forthcoming in Lumina, The Faster Times, Gigantic and The Believer.

Tracy Winn

Read Bio: Tracy Winn's debut collection of linked short stories, Mrs. Somebody Somebody is forthcoming from SMU Press. She earned her MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers, and her stories, which have appeared in publications such as Alaska Quarterly Review and Hayden's Ferry Review, have been nominated for a Pushcart and for inclusion in the Best American Mystery Stories. She is the recipient of grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Barbara Deming Memorial Trust, the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, and fellowships from the Millay Colony and the MacDowell Colony.

Testimonials

-Jim English, Historical Novel and Memoir. Providence, Rhode Island

-Randy Ross, Non-Fiction. Somerville, Massachusetts

For more information, call 617.695.0075, or send e-mail to info@grubstreet.org.