Our 12 January meeting will be a workshop facilitated by Debs Torr on writing a short story, generating ideas and overcoming writer’s block.
Debs, now based in Bristol, has roots in South London. She has published short stories and articles and is currently working on her first novel with funding from Arts Council England. She has facilitated workshops for a range of different groups and is highly recommended!
The meeting begins at 7.30 in our usual place, details here.
Thanks go to Ethel for organising a very successful Christmas Party! We met old friends, exchanged intriguing gifts, and struggled with Mike’s quote-based quiz. A good time was had by all!
Our next gathering will be our Annual Christmas Social, held upstairs at the Spread Eagle, Croydon, at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, 8th December. Partners and friends are welcome.
The cost is £20, which includes a delicious buffet and another of Mike’s quizzes!
We also invite you to bring along a literary-themed Secret Santa gift (up to £10) to share in the festive spirit.
At last! Our congratulations, and thanks to everyone from all around the world, who supported our competition. You can hear an audio recording of the announcement here…
Stuart Wilks-Heeg has recently begun writing fiction. In his other life, he is a Professor of Politics at the University of Liverpool. He lives in Crosby, Merseyside and, from 2023-25, he was the stadium announcer for Marine Football Club.
Fay has had a number of writing successes and a much greater number of rejections! She has now retired and wonders how she ever had time to go to work. Fay is concerned about environmental issues and is keenly green.
Celia Gatward – Missing
Celia Gatward is a passionate writer who loves crafting worlds and bringing characters to life. With a professional background in marketing and media, she has always found time to immerse herself in storytelling. Her writing has been featured in The Swan Theatre’s New Playwright Festival, and she has written three radio plays for Upstage Surrey Theatre Company, with another currently in production and a live stage play scheduled for 2026. Alongside her dramatic writing, Celia enjoys exploring short stories and poetry and continues to develop a children’s novel that she hopes will one day find its way to publication.
Benjamin Graham – Why Don’t You Just Keep Going
Born in a former mining community in Durham, England, Ben’s love of literature grew from reading the works of Joyce, Hemingway, Ginsberg and several other writers a teenage boy should really have no interest in reading.
After several years struggling to pay rent as a freelance journalist, Ben became a copywriter and editor in Edinburgh. He now divides his time between writing, reading, and frequenting the drinking establishments of renowned Edinburgh authors in the hope of finding some clue to their genius or, failing that, a good dram of whisky.
Katie Weatherford is an actress, writer, and director. She has been telling stories since she was a child. In 2023, she wrote and directed an award-winning short film, “The Murder Party: Offering Unconventional Solutions to Heartbreak.”
Katie is passionate about the art of creation and creating with kindness.
You can now read entries from the shortlist for the Michael Round Prize! This includes the entries which came first and second. The results were officially announced at our meeting on 10 November.
Winner: We only Had One Religion (Hashmi-Al-Haseeb Faisal)
Judging in the Michael Round Prize is now complete, and all entrants have been sent an email letting them know (if you entered and haven’t heard, get in touch at the same email you used to enter).
But who has won?
The result will be announced at a special meeting on 10 November, where the entries that won first and second places will be read. Not to be missed – put it in your diary! (10 November, not December!)
At our regular meeting on 13 October, Stella led a session on writing memoir, life stories and autobiography. Memoirs have become an increasingly popular form of creative writing in recent years (even putting aside all the stories which are really lightly veiled autobiographical fragments). After all, if we accept the old advice to ‘write about what you know’, what could be a more appropriate subject than your own life?
Update: The notes and reading list from the meeting are here:
Peter gave a presentation on the benefits, disadvantages and risks of entering competitions (and he does actually recommend it). You can see the presentation, with commentary, below.
Jo Bodley led a lively flash fiction writing session on a warm summer evening. Jo, whose pieces have achieved success in competitions, gave an introduction to writing flash including some interesting hints on what makes good pieces. Then we did an exercise, chosing the short limit of 100 words. Prompts included ‘Far and Wide’ (catchy title, that), ‘Then you were gone’, ‘Then the roof fell in’ and ‘My coffee cup’. We each produced and read two short stories – or in Mike’s case several, including some he had prepared earlier. Ethel read an excellent one from an absent friend. Stella plans to include some of the results in the newsletter she is going to produce.
Croydon Writers 