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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 We urge the government to restore all funding cuts and rescinded grants, and to strengthen the NEA and NEH, thereby providing essential support for art organizations and individual writers and artists now and into the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
7:00pm PT
Grotto's Annual New Books Party at Green Apple
7:00-8:00pm PT
Fall Write-In with Laurie Ann Doyle
6:30-7:30pm PT
Difficult Conversations as Writers with Brandy Collins
6:30-7:30pm PT
Difficult Conversations as Writers with Brandy Collins
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 Memoir and Personal Narrative with Kristen Cosby
6:00-8:30pm PT
Introduction to Creative Writing with Kristen Cosby
6:00-8:00pm PT
Writing About Your Favorites: Intro to Pop-Culture Analysis with Sezin Devi Koehler
6:00-8:00pm PT
Thanks, I Hate It: The Art of Writing a Bad Review with Sezin Devi Koehler
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
Begin Where It Burns – Starting Your Book with Jenny Bitner
6:00-8:00pm PT
Autofiction: Combining Memoir and Fiction with Jenny Bitner
6:00-8:00pm PT
Fiction Workshop with Doug Henderson
6:00-8:00pm PT
Pushing the Boundaries: Experiments in Form with Jenny Bitner
6:00-7:30pm PT
Grotto Nights at SFPL: To Live & Die in the United States: A Struggle for Agency, Dignity, and Grace
6:00-7:30pm PT
Grotto Nights at the Library: Campfire Stories and Other Ghostly Narratives
6:00-7:30pm PT
Storytelling to Perform with Jessica Martinez
6:00-7:30pm PT
Grotto Nights @ SFPL: Stories at Play
6:00-7:30pm PT
Grotto Nights at SFPL: Rooted and Written
6:00 - 8:00pm PT
Write Your Unformulaic Novel with Jenny Bitner
5:30-7:30pm PT
MFA Programs: Get Admitted! with Lyzette Wanzer
5:30-7:30pm PT
Strategic Submissions: Get Published! with Lyzette Wanzer
5:00-7:00pm PT
Reading + Meeting: Nov. 21st, 2025
5:00-7:00pm PT
Reading + Meeting: Sept. 19th, 2025
5:00-7:00pm PT
Reading + Meeting: August 15th, 2025
5:00-7:00pm PT
Reading + Meeting: July 18th, 2025
5:00-7:00pm PT
Reading + Meeting: June 20th
5:00-7:00pm PT
Reading + Meeting
4:30pm PT
Members Only: Book Club: "The Known World"
4:00-5:30pm PT
True Crit with Deborah Claymon and Marisa Catalina Casey
3:30-5:00pm PT
Imagery Intensive with Lindsey Crittenden
3:00-5:30pm PT
Memoir: A Course in Craft with Lindsey Crittenden
3:00-5:00pm PT
Work-in-Progress Workshop with Lindsey Crittenden
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
3:00-4:30pm PT
Members Only: Essay/Memoir Group
3:00-4:00pm PT
Spring 2025 Write-Ins: Britta Stromeyer
2:00-4:00pm PT
Summer Writing Workshop for Teens with Kristen Cosby
2:00-3:30pm PT
Make a Zine with Jessica Martinez
1:00-3:00pm PT
How to Write a Children's Book with Lisa Lerner
1:00-3:00pm PT
Write a Fabulous Beginning with Lisa Lerner
1:00-3:00pm PT
Write a Fabulous Beginning with Lisa Lerner
1:00-3:00pm PT
Write a Fabulous Beginning with Lisa Lerner
12:30pm PT
Members Only: Journalism Group (hybrid)
12:30-1:30pm PT
Fall Write-In with Xandra Castleton
12:00pm PT
Members Only: Wet Ink Tutorial
12:00-1:30pm PT
Poetry Writing Workshop with Kristen Cosby
12:00-1:30pm PT
Rehearsing Memory: A Poetic Practice with Sabina Khan-Ibarra
12:00-1:30pm PT
Poetry in the Flesh: Image, Rhythm, and Embodied Voice with Sabina Khan-Ibarra
12:00-1:30pm PT
Unlock the Poet Within: Transforming Tradition with Sabina Khan-Ibarra
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
12:00-1:00pm PT
Words and Stories Series at Salesforce Park: Prose
12:00-1:00pm PT
Words and Stories Series at Salesforce Park: Prose
12:00-1:00pm PT
Spring 2025 Write-Ins: Lisa Lerner
12:00-1:00pm PT
Spring 2025 Write-Ins: Lisa Lerner
12:00-1:00pm PT
Spring 2025 Write-Ins: Lyzette Wanzer
11:00am-12:00pm PT
Spring 2025 Write-Ins: Lyzette Wanzer
11:00am-12:00pm PT
Spring 2025 Write-Ins: Jenny Bitner
10:00am-12:00pm PT
Building Your Author Platform with Grace Loh Prasad
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.
Featured Work
"You're going to the bookstore, aren't you?" with Lewis Buzbee
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.
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.
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