Tag: poetry

Shaniqua Benjamin 13 July

July 2, 2026

At our meeting on 13 July Shaniqua Benjamin gave us an excellent talk about her writing and about being Croydon’s first poet laureate. She is pictured above with some of those who came along, holding one of the new Croydon Writers mugs which we presented to her. Besides being an accomplished poet, Shaniqua is a skilled facilitator and besides treating us to impressive performances of some of her work, she involved us all in a very lively and interesting conversation.

10 Ways to Get Going again

January 18, 2026

By Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

January is tough, and it can be difficult to get back in motion, so here are some timely ideas provided by the Novelry. Five suggestions for overcoming writer’s block and five for finding new inspiration.

Faridah is the young writer, born and brought up in Croydon but proud of her Nigerian heritage, whose first novel Ace of Spades shot to best-selling success and a place on the New York Times Top Ten.

WOTM is back!

January 6, 2026

We are restarting our ‘Writer of the Month’ competition!

The theme this month is “Light and Dark”, fitting for this time of year and the times we are living in. Entries can be prose or poetry but should be short – flash fiction or a single stanza of verse. Entries should be a Word document attached to an email, or in the body of an email. Please send them to Stella at:

You will then be sent all the entries to read and asked to return your vote for the top three. The closing date will be  Friday January 23rd and voting will close shortly afterwards. The winner will be announced and published on the website. There is no prize except recognition and we hope, a bit of motivation and inspiration!