The Writers Grotto

The Writers Grotto The Writers Grotto is an affordable co-working space and creative community in downtown San Francisco.
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We’ve been around for 25 years; our more than 100 members include writers of all stripes. We are always looking for serious storytellers to join us. The Writers Grotto is a workplace — and a place in the mind. We nurture a community of working writers and narrative artists who connect in physical and virtual space, pooling our talents, supporting each other, engaging the wider world, and creating

beautiful work. Now in our 25th year, we have a roster of more than one hundred professional writers, including journalists and novelists, podcasters and poets, comedians and filmmakers, playwrights and publishers. We offer an affordable co-working space in San Francisco and foster a literary culture that is generous in spirit and deeply inclusive. When you connect with The Writers Grotto—whether by taking a class, attending a party, or joining in creative collaboration—you help us amplify seldom-heard voices and expand the audience for meaningful storytelling.

Join us for a FREE lunchtime reading in the beautiful Wetlands Garden of the TJPA Salesforce Park! Rob Ehle and Josh Wil...
08/31/2026

Join us for a FREE lunchtime reading in the beautiful Wetlands Garden of the TJPA Salesforce Park! Rob Ehle and Josh Wilson will be reading from their work, come by!

Words & Stories Reading Series
September 2 • 1:00–1:30pm
Wetlands Garden of TJPA’s Salesforce Park

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our latest Grotto Night at the San Francisco Public Library, Writing About the S...
08/30/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our latest Grotto Night at the San Francisco Public Library, Writing About the Strange and Surreal!

Moderator Josh Wilson led Audrey, Katie, Khan, Doug, and TK in a lively conversation about craft, genre, world building, and the ways the strange can help us see everyday reality differently. The panel ranged from fantasy, science fiction, horror, and magical realism to solarpunk, autofiction, and near-future fiction—and explored how grief, ecology, family, and lived experience can find expression through the speculative and surreal.

Thank you to our panelists and moderator, to Swetha Amit for curating the evening, to Maw Shein Win for the wonderful photos, and to everyone who came out and joined the conversation!

Grotto Nights return September 29 with HeartLand author Jilanne Hoffmann in conversation with Leslie Kirk Campbell. We hope to see you there!

Bubbles, treats, and beautiful writing—the August Grotto Literary Salon brought Childhood: Return to Innocence to life w...
08/29/2026

Bubbles, treats, and beautiful writing—the August Grotto Literary Salon brought Childhood: Return to Innocence to life with all the golden, dreamy warmth of a late-summer evening! Readers Lindsey Crittenden, Terry Tierney, Veronica Kornberg, Susan Kiyo, and Preeti Vangani shared a wonderful blend of prose, poetry, and even some speculative fiction exploring childhood from a plurality of experiences. Audience members got in the spirit too, sharing their favorite childhood books and enjoying the bubbles and toys.

A heartfelt thank-you to Leah for emceeing and co-curating the evening; to Terry and Linda for the supplies; to Christopher, Jenny, Jane, and Christl for answering the volunteer call. And of course, thank you to everyone who came and made the room feel so special. 🖊️🎙️

Our next Literary Salon is Friday, September 18th, 5–7 pm. The theme is Who Am I Really, and Who Can I Be? Denial, Secrets, Liberation, Transformation.

More details coming soon!

Words & Stories had another wonderful afternoon yesterday at the Wetlands Garden at Salesforce Park! 🌿 Thank you to Step...
08/27/2026

Words & Stories had another wonderful afternoon yesterday at the Wetlands Garden at Salesforce Park! 🌿 Thank you to Stephanie Wildman and Grace Hwang Lynch for sharing their work, and to everyone who joined us.

Grace Hwang Lynch’s book HOW TO COOK RICE is available for pre-order.

Come by next Wednesday for another free lunchtime reading!

Do you have a book coming out? Are you building your author platform? This one-day class will teach you basic techniques...
08/27/2026

Do you have a book coming out? Are you building your author platform? This one-day class will teach you basic techniques to create eye-catching graphics in Canva to promote your work and grow your audience.

With Grace Loh Prasad

Sunday, September 13th; from 10:00am-1:00pm PT. Via Zoom.

https://www.writersgrotto.org/classes-and-events/canva-101-for-writers

In this workshop, writers will practice ways to develop irresistible characters, seed storylines, set a tone, hone a dis...
08/25/2026

In this workshop, writers will practice ways to develop irresistible characters, seed storylines, set a tone, hone a distinctive voice—and hook audiences.

We’ll dissect the conventional and rule-breaking choices made by writers of feature film and pilot scripts such as American Fiction, Parasite, Fleabag, and Big Little Lies, aided by interviews with screenwriters and excerpts from Save the Cat Writes for TV and The Screenwriter’s Bible. With Xandra Maria Castleton

Saturdays, September 12th - October 10th, from 10:00am - 12:00pm PT. Via Zoom.

https://www.writersgrotto.org/classes-and-events/thrilled-to-meet-you-writing-opening-scenes-that-seduce-a-script-reader-with-xandra-castleton

If you’re ever felt bound by the constraints of genre, this class is for you. Following the model of an MFA craft class...
08/24/2026

If you’re ever felt bound by the constraints of genre, this class is for you.

Following the model of an MFA craft class, we’ll read the work of hybrid writers such as Abigail Thomas, Roxane Gay, and Maggie Nelson and do freewrites inspired by their examples. Class participants will come away with a broader understanding of hybrid forms, along with new experimental work of their own.

Saturdays, September 12th - October 10th from 10:00am - 12:00pm PT.
1663 Mission Street, Ste. 602, San Francisco.

https://www.writersgrotto.org/classes-and-events/experiment-with-hybrids-the-lyric-essay-prose-poem-and-flash-creative-nonfiction-with-joanne-furio

08/16/2026

Grotto Nights at the Library presents: Speculate: Writing About the Strange and Surreal. Join us for an evening of speculative writing, strange ideas, surreal worlds, and lively conversation with an incredible panel of writers: Doug Henderson • Katie Flynn • Khan Wong • Audrey T. Williams • T.K. Rex. Moderated by Josh Wilson and curated by Swetha Amit.

📅 August 25, 2026
⏰ 6:00–7:30 PM
📍 San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch—The Page, 1st Floor
100 Larkin Street, San Francisco
Come explore the wonderfully weird possibilities of writing beyond the ordinary. 🌙📖

Address

1663 Mission Street, Suite 602
San Francisco, CA
94103

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 10pm
Tuesday 10am - 10pm
Wednesday 10am - 10pm
Thursday 10am - 10pm
Friday 10am - 10pm
Saturday 10am - 10pm
Sunday 10am - 10pm

Telephone

+14157411119

Website

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