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Welcome to Thames Valley Writers' Circle

The Circle is not a tutor-led group but consists of writers and poets of mixed abilities and ages, who take turns to read their work and offer comments on that of others.  The venue for the meetings is St Joseph's Church Hall, Berkshire Drive, Tilehurst, Reading RG31 5JJ (click here for map).

The Circle has about 30 members, including two corresponding members in Australia and one in Turkey.  Most members live in Reading whilst others come from Newbury, Thatcham, Caversham, Hook, Tadley, Hungerford and Bracknell.

Members include novelists, short story writers, poets, journalists and some writing autobiographies and biographies. Some members have been published, others write for pleasure.

Invited speakers such as Colin Dexter (Inspector Morse), Robert Harris (Enigma, Fatherland, Pompei and Imperium) and John Jenkins, (editor and publisher of Writers' Forum) come from time to time to give the Circle the benefit of their expertise.

The Circle put on a pantomime in 2000 and has written an ongoing ‘soap opera’, The Chronicles of Much Hemlock.

How it all began

Thames Valley Writers' Circle was formed in 1993. Not wishing to lose contact with each other at the end of a creative writing course, a few of the students joined a group of writers based at Wilson Education College in Reading. This group only met once a month. If anyone was sick or went on holiday, it was several weeks before they got together again. After some discussion, it was decided to meet weekly and give the group a name. Thus the Thames Valley Writers' Circle came into being.

Contact us

If you would like to know more about the Circle, click here to e-mail committee member Dick Sawdon-Smith.

© Thames Valley Writers' Circle