About us
Who we are
Birmingham Writers’ Group welcomes members from all walks of life from across the West Midlands – we’re a mixed bunch, and we enjoy new perspectives. All we require is that our members are regular writers – published or otherwise – and that they treat each other with respect.
What we do
Many people think of writers as solitary hermits – but the core goal of most writers is focused upon other people: communicating with an audience, whoever that audience may be.
Different people join the Writers’ Group for different reasons, but some themes are central: we’re here to support each other’s literary efforts, and sympathise with writerly woes, and we’re also here to provide constructive critical advice on each other’s work.
Our meetings take a variety of different formats. Often, members will read out their work for others to comment on – but we also host instant writing exercises, competitions, and a range of discussion evenings on particular themes.
What we write
We’re open to all kinds of writing. Our current membership features a lot of prose-fiction writers with a smattering of poets for good measure (pun ill-advisedly intended), but we’re also open to non-fiction writers too; we’ve mainly focused on writing short stories and novels, but we’ve also covered radio plays and screenplays.
We do stipulate that material read out at our meetings should be suitable for a diverse audience, and, whilst our range of ability varies, we are not the best group for people who are still mastering the basics – there are other writing classes available that are better-equipped to provide instruction on particular topics.
When we meet
We generally meet twice monthly at Birmingham Central Library.
After the official meetings, some of our members retire to a nearby pub for a less formal chat, but this certainly isn’t compulsory! We also arrange additional social evenings elsewhere in other venues.