What we’re about
This is a group for anyone interested in writing and meeting other writers in the Caversham and wider Berkshire area. For our online meetings, we also welcome members globally.
We were founded in 2018 by Canadian author Crystal Bourque with an ethos that we still maintain today: "If you write, you're a writer."
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We've always been free to join and free to attend. To help keep it that way, please consider Buying Me A Coffee, all donations go towards the running of the group.
All skill levels are welcome - published or unpublished, aspiring authors or enthusiastic hobbyists. We have members that write in all genres, so whether you write fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose, fantasy or reality, you will fit right in.
We currently hold meetings in 4 different formats:
> Writing Meetings. In which we'll either work on (or start) any writing project of our own choosing, or we'll set a theme or prompt for all to use as a starting point.
> Feedback Meetings. In which we'll provide feedback on excerpts of members work, either submitted in advance or read out to the group on the night. Feedback should be constructive, encouraging, and tailored to the author's directed instruction.
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> Author Events. In which published authors come along to talk to the group. We have a Q & A with them about their writing process and path to publication.
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> Writes & Bites. In which we meet for a social evening, usually at a local restaurant. No writing involved in these events, they are an opportunity to get to know each other better and, of course, to discuss all things writing.
> We also have occasional one off special events, such as literary festival talks, book signings, launch parties.
Upcoming events (3)
See all- Fourbears Fest - A Conversation with Curtis ChinProgress Theatre, ReadingGBP 6.00
Caversham Writers' Curtis Chin is coming to Reading!
I will be interviewing him about his book Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant - a memoir of growing up as a Chinese American kid in 1980s Detroit, the era of Reagan and the AIDS epidemic, all centred around the family restaurant, Chung’s.
This event is part of the Reading and Caversham Book Festival, AKA Fourbears Fest, organised by Alex Forbes from our local independent bookshop.
Tickets for this event are only £6, available from the Fourbears Books website here: Curtis Chin - Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant : A Memoir | Fourbears Books
**The event fee listed here on Meetup is NOT payable to me or Caversham Writers - it is the cost of the ticket from Fourbears Books for this event. You will not be charged twice, but you do need to buy a ticket at Fourbears to attend**
Curtis will be signing copies of his book in the foyer afterwards.
And after that we'll be going for a special 'Writes & Bites' lunch across the street at The Queen's Head on Christchurch Road.
- Prompt-Write Night (online event)Link visible for attendees
Join us for this writing session where we set a prompt or theme for members to follow and discuss afterwards - you don't have to be in Caversham, or even the UK, to join us online. In these online writing events we follow the format of our regular writing meetups (see below).
To do so, I will end the Zoom component of the meeting after 20 to 30 minutes so that we can all write for an hour without the feeling of being spied upon through our webcams! I will then restart the Zoom meeting and you will be able to re-join using the same link.
NOTE: When joining the Zoom session, please ensure you are using the same name as in your Meetup profile. You will not be admitted into the Zoom meeting if your name isn't on the Meetup attendee list.
What to expect: We'll start off the meeting with introductions and a bit of a chat (which usually runs to about 30 minutes). I will then introduce a writing prompt for us all to follow, a jumping off point to act as a guide for the writing session. What you do with it, where you go with it, is entirely up to you! We'll write for about an hour, after which we can talk about where our writing took us and maybe share some of what we produced.
No pressure, though - only share whatever you feel comfortable with. (We do have a more formal feedback meeting that you can submit pieces to for review - check our upcoming events for more details.)
**Don't forget to subscribe to our Caversham Writers newsletter! A weekly round up of our events, discussions, member news and more straight to your inbox every Friday.
- Writes & Bites - an in person social event!The Moderation, Reading
This is our regular social event for members to meet and chat over a meal at a local Caversham/Reading restaurant.
The Moderation?
https://www.themodreading.com/
South east Asian and traditional pub food.We'll typically talk about all things writing, so feel free to raise any questions you might have about your own, or each other's, writing projects.
To better manage the reservation with the restaurant, numbers are limited for this event so a waitlist may be in force. If you sign up but later realise you cannot make it, please ensure you change your RSVP status to 'not going' so that other members can be moved up from the waitlist. Thank you.
There is no agenda for this meeting - no laptops, pens or paper required. It is just a chance for us to get to know each other a little better, to meet new members, or to get reacquainted with those we haven't seen in a while.
Members are responsible for their own food and drink.
**Don't forget to subscribe to our Caversham Writers newsletter! A weekly round up of our events, discussions, member news and more straight to your inbox every Friday.
