What’s the Club About?
Leicester Writers’ Club began over fifty years ago as a haven for those writers who had passed through the gauntlet of formal Creative Writing classes but were yet to achieve publication. The idea was to form a community that could collectively help and support the members towards that ultimate goal. This still remains a central part of the club’s ethos today. Club membership is open to published writers and writers working towards professional publication who can benefit from and contribute to the club and its objectives.
Ours is a club dedicated to development. Whilst it is true that a significant percentage of our members have been published, most achieved their success after they became members rather than before. Even members who have achieved prominence – such as Mahsuda Snaith (winner of both the Bristol Short Story Prize and the SI Leeds Literary Prize in 2014), Rod Duncan (shortlisted for the 2015 Philip K Dick Award) and Chris d’Lacey (shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for children’s fiction) – came into the club before signing a professional publishing contract.
How to meet the members
We hold manuscript meetings most Thursdays, 7-9pm at Phoenix Leicester. Prospective new members may attend to observe as a guest of an existing member (if they happen to know one), or contact the club committee through the ‘Contact Form’ on this website to arrange a suitable date to visit.
All summer – July and August – we open up our Thursday meetings and welcome visitors to come in and fully participate for a £3 fee (which helps us pay for the room hire). On these occasions, visitors are invited to put their name down in the manuscript book and read their work as well as joining in with comments and feedback on the work of other members.
How to join
If, after your visits, you think Leicester Writers’ Club is a group you would like to be part of and would like to join, we will ask you to write to us and submit some work for the committee to read. This is not meant to be a scary process. We just need to understand at what stage you are with your writing. We ask for a sample piece of writing up to 1,000 words long or 3 poems each of 40 lines or less.
Our committee is connected into all the resources for the development of writers in the East Midlands. Our constitutional objectives are about the development of writers and, if necessary, the committee will advise on alternative development routes, with a list of resources including the WEM and Writing School courses or reading suggestions. We are, at heart, a mutual support group and our eventual aim is always to get you into the club.
Annual subscriptions are currently £65.