
What we’re about
Pune Writers' Group is an independent community of writers practising the craft of writing since 2014. We meet four times a week to write together and discuss literature, art, society, and science.
Our meetings are held both online and in person:
Online (via Google Meet):
- Sundays
- Mondays
- Every third, fourth, and fifth Saturday of the month
In person:
- Every Thursday at Pagdandi Books Chai Cafe, Baner
- Every second and fourth Saturday at Kitabi Chai, NIBM Road
Here are a few useful links about us:
https://linktr.ee/punewritersgroup
The common Google Meet link:
https://meet.google.com/tnt-fnkp-uhp
The PWG in the newspaper:
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/hidden-stories-pune-community-pagdandi-bookstore-cafe-quietly-weaving-stories-decade-9941452/
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Once Upon a Time: Reading 'The World Has Many Butterflies' by Curtis SittenfeldLink visible for attendees
The story of the month: 'The World Has Many Butterflies' by Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld
Link to the story:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pFjiUlXFR9sv89F1geuu6sEFjcDRzIxp/view?usp=sharing
Link to the Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/tnt-fnkp-uhp
The meeting room will open 5 minutes before the session.
***
"A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it."
~ Edgar Allan Poe
Despite unwarranted reports of its demise at various times, the short story has been robust and thriving. The form itself has constantly changed, always reflecting the times it came out of, unlike the novel.
From the great short story writers – Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov, Henry James, O’Henry, and Saki – we moved to the more modern writers who brought a change in the middle of the twentieth century – Flannery O’Connor and Raymond Carver were at the forefront of this.
Once Upon a Time is a session in which we try to familiarise ourselves with the world's best short stories. Shankar will read the story aloud in the session. After the reading, we will analyse it together to learn from it.
But if you can, please read the story beforehand.
THE STORY: 'The World Has Many Butterflies' by Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld
'The World Has Many Butterflies' is from Sittenfeld’s first short-story collection, 'You Think it, I’ll Say It', in which a man and a woman bond over a snarky game they play about others, only to reveal misunderstandings and unspoken desires.
Link to the story:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pFjiUlXFR9sv89F1geuu6sEFjcDRzIxp/view?usp=sharing
THE AUTHOR:
Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld (b 1975) is an American writer. She is the author of 2 collections of short stories, 'You Think it, I’ll Say It' (2018) and 'Show Don't Tell' (2025), as well as seven novels. Her short-story collections are unified by the focus on the private thoughts people keep hidden—judgments, regrets, fantasies, and the awkwardness of social comparison.
THE HOST:
Shankar is an aspiring writer, living in Pune. He has been a lifelong reader and was bitten by the writing bug after reading books by Tobias Wolff and William Trevor. While he loves novels, especially by the Russians, he always has a particular fondness for short stories.