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Rent office space at the Grotto!

The Grotto currently has office space available for rent. Get in touch today to learn more!

Featured News

Rin Kelly Scholarship Now Accepting Applications!

The Rin Kelly Scholarship for Fiction is now accepting applications. Founded in honor of The Writers Grotto student and author of "Into the Laughing Gas World" Rin Kelly, the Rin Kelly Scholarship for Fiction offers three $350 scholarships to emerging fiction writers with a focus on speculative, imaginative and critical/satirical works. Please click the link for submission guidelines and to learn more.

Featured News

A Statement from The Writers Grotto

The Writer’s Grotto in San Francisco, a 30-year-old writing community of 160+ members, stands in solidarity with other arts organizations across the country who have lost their National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) funding. We condemn all efforts to silence free speech and expression within our vibrant and diverse society. We urge the government to restore all funding cuts and rescinded grants, and to strengthen the NEA and NEH, thereby providing essential support for art organizations and individual writers and artists now and into the future.

Upcoming Classes & Events

MM/DD

MM/DD

Today

ddd, MMM. DD

7:00-8:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Jenny Bitner

7:00-8:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Laurie Ann Doyle

6:30-9:00pm PT

Writing The Wild with Zoe Young

6:30-8:00pm PT

The Driving Force of a Great First Line with Lenore Weiss

6:30-8:00pm PT

Find Your Story Find Your Voice with Britta Stromeyer

6:30-7:30pm PT

Winter Write-In with Laurie Ann Doyle

6:00pm PT

Grotto Nights at SFPL: So Good It Has to Go on a Holiday Card

6:00-8:30pm PT

Introduction to Creative Writing with Kristen Cosby

6:00-8:30pm PT

Personal Narrative and Memoir Writing with Kristen Cosby

6:00-8:30pm PT

Intermediate Creative Nonfiction Writing with Kristen Cosby

6:00-8:30pm PT

Start from Scratch: Write a Short Story in 6 Weeks with Lindsey Crittenden

6:00-8:30pm PT

Introduction to Creative Writing with Kristen Cosby

6:00-8:00pm PT

Momentum: A Continuing Writing Workshop with Jenny Bitner

6:00-8:00pm PT

Autofiction: Combining Memoir and Fiction with Jenny Bitner

6:00-8:00pm PT

Write Your Memoir: A Course in Craft with Lindsey Crittenden

6:00-8:00pm PT

Brilliant Openings: How to Grab an Agent on Page One with Anoop Judge

6:00-8:00pm PT

Begin Where It Burns—Starting Your Book with Jenny Bitner

6:00-8:00pm PT

Trancewriting: Intuitive Writing Through Hypnosis with Jenny Bitner

6:00-8:00pm PT

Fiction Workshop with Doug Henderson

6:00-7:30pm PT

Rewriting Diversity with Brandy Collins

6:00-7:30pm PT

Rewriting Diversity with Brandy Collins

6:00-7:30pm PT

Grotto Nights at SFPL: Strong Visions and Thick Skin: Writing Against the Status Quo.

6:00-7:30pm PT

Difficult Conversations as Writers with Brandy Collins

6:00-7:30pm PT

Difficult Conversations as Writers with Brandy Collins

6:00-7:30pm PT

Difficult Conversations as Writers with Brandy Collins

6:00-7:30pm PT

Grotto Nights at the Library: Campfire Stories and Other Ghostly Narratives

6:00-7:30 pm PT

Grotto Nights at SFPL: Jack of all Genres: Master of More

6:00-7:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Preeti Vangani

6:00-7:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Lyzette Wanzer

6:00-7:00pm PT

Grotto Nights at SFPL: Unchecked: The Future of Journalism in a Factless World

6:00 - 8:00pm PT

Write Your Unformulaic Novel with Jenny Bitner

5:00-7:00pm PT

Reading + Meeting: Nov. 21st, 2025

5:00-6:30pm PT

How to Tell the Story Only You Can Tell with Lisa Lerner

4:30-6:00pm PT

Members Only: Book Discussion: Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

3:00-4:30pm PT

Members Only: Essay/Memoir Group

3:00-4:30pm PT

Members Only: Essay/Memoir Group

3:00-4:30pm PT

Members Only: Essay/Memoir Group

3:00-4:30pm PT

Members Only: Essay/Memoir Group

3:00-4:30pm PT

Members Only: Essay/Memoir Group

3:00-4:15pm PT

So Bad You Have To Laugh About It: Turn Life’s Garbage Into Literary Gold with Jessica Martinez and Britta Stromeyer

1:00-4:00pm PT

Sacred Space & Intention: Threshold Writing in Midwinter with MK Chavez & Maw Shein Win

1:00-3:00pm PT

Write a Fabulous Beginning with Lisa Lerner

12:30-1:30pm PT

Fall Write-In with Xandra Castleton

12:00-1:30pm PT

Rooted Words: Place, Landscape, and Setting in Contemporary Poetry with Sabina Khan-Ibarra

12:00-1:30pm PT

Poetry Writing Workshop with Kristen Cosby

12:00-1:30pm PT

Unlock the Poet Within: Transforming Tradition with Sabina Khan-Ibarra

12:00-1:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Lisa Lerner

12:00-1:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Sabina Khan-Ibarra

12:00-1:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Sabina Khan-Ibarra

12:00-1:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Lisa Lerner

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Maw Shein Win

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Laurie Ann Doyle

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Jenny Bitner

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Kristen Cosby

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Kristen Cosby

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Sabina Khan-Ibarra

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Sabina Khan-Ibarra

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Lisa Lerner

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Lisa Lerner

12:00-1:00pm PT

Fall Write-In with Xandra Castleton

12:00-1:00pm PT

Members Only: Grotto Book Publicity/Author Marketing Group

11:30am-1:00pm PT

The Music of the Line: Sound, Silence, & Rhythm in Poetry with Sabina Khan-Ibarra

11:00am-1:00pm PT

Held Things: The Poetics of Objects, Memory, & Meaning with Sabina Khan-Ibarra

11:00am-12:30pm PT

Between Line & Sentence: Prose Poetry and Poetic Prose with Sabina Khan-Ibarra

11:00am-12:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Doug Henderson

11:00am-12:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Jenny Bitner

11:00am-12:00pm PT

Winter Write-In with Nate Olivarez-Giles

10:30am-12:30pm PT

Writing Microfiction with Britta Stromeyer

10:30am-12:30pm PT

Writing Microfiction with Britta Stromeyer

10:00am-12:00pm PT

Rooted & Written Alumni Only: Let The Body Sing: A Generative Workshop on Writing into Sex, Desire and the Body with Preeti Vangani

10:00am-12:00pm PT

Rooted & Written Alumni Only: Let The Body Sing: A Generative Workshop on Writing into Sex, Desire and the Body with Preeti Vangani

10:00-11:00am PT

Winter Write-In with Doug Henderson

10:00-11:00am PT

Let's NaNoWriMo Together! with Lisa Lerner

Member Spotlight

Chino Lee Chung

Chino Lee Chung is a queer Chinese Mexican personal essay writer, grassroots activist, and is currently working on a collection of essays that integrate his social activism with his intersectional identities. He is a recipient of the 2024-2025 San Jose State Steinbeck Fellowship and holds an MFA from the California College of Arts. His work appears in Gender Queer: voices from beyond the sexual binary, Our Family Coalition Newsletter, and is an Assistant Fiction Editor at 14 Hills Literary Magazine.

See More See All Members

Featured Work

"You're going to the bookstore, aren't you?" with Lewis Buzbee

by:

Lewis Buzbee, Doug Henderson and T. K. Rex discuss the craft of books, and why we still love bookstores, even after (especially after) working at them.

See More See All Works

Join Us.

The Writers Grotto is a home for writers of all levels. Find your perfect class, grow as a writer in our fellowship program, or join our community of established writers as a member.

Take A Class Become A Member Other Ways to Get Involved

Get a Lit Start.

Lit Start books written by The Writers Grotto. Lit Starts on Memoir, Humor, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Dialogue, Character & Action

Little Books of Writing Prompts created by the Writers Grotto.

Lit Start books written by The Writers Grotto. Lit Starts on Memoir, Humor, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Dialogue, Character & Action