Walsall Writers’ Circle (WWC) is a vibrant, friendly circle of enthusiastic writers, as new chair, Cath Edwards will tell you.

Cath, who was appointed to the role of Chair in July this year, is excited to be taking the circle forward into its 60th year.

She says: ‘I was extremely honoured to take up the post of chair of this great organisation. I’ve been a member of writers’ groups before, but WWC is by far the liveliest and the most welcoming.’

Cath is proud of the programme of activities offered by WWC: ‘We do so many things! We have in-person and zoom meetings, one of each most months. Mostly, these are workshops on aspects of writing; sometimes we have author visits too.’

Cath is keen to point out where the ideas for the circle’s yearly programme of workshops come from. ‘We ask the members!’ she says. ‘Everyone has the opportunity to request any topics they would like to learn about, and we do our best to cover it all.’

But there’s more! ‘As well as the workshops, we have monthly mini-retreats where writers can find some quiet time just to sit down and write. And there are extra-curricular activities too!’

Cath has to pause for a moment to remember all the extra events members of WWC took part in last year. ‘We had a group outing to the Birmingham Catacombs, where we had a tour with a very knowledgeable guide. Then we all went to a lovely little café in the jewellery quarter for a workshop on writing ghost stories. And there was coffee and cake too! We had another guided tour of the Leather Museum, again followed by a workshop. Ghost stories have emerged as a theme, and we’ve been having optional extra zoom meetings to get together to write our stories; we plan to put them together in an anthology this September.

‘Another highlight was taking part in Wolverhampton Literature Festival; this is something WWC has been involved in for several years now. A group of us went along and read our work on the theme of ‘Taking the Stage’. It was great fun to be involved in the festival, and we’re looking forward to going again in 2026!’

WWC runs in-house competitions as well. ‘We have two competitions a year, for members,’ says Cath. ‘One is for short fiction and the other is for creative non-fiction. And we’ve published anthologies of members’ work.’

Cath herself has several published books, including two of folk tales and a handbook for staff working with youngsters with a learning disability. But she points out that the circle is welcoming to writers of all abilities, from beginners to more accomplished authors, and other circle members have also had publishing successes. She says, ‘Whatever your level of experience with writing, if you’re at all interested in prose, poetry, fiction or non-fiction, you will find that Walsall Writers’ Circle is for you.’

To find out more, go to www.walsallwriterscircle.wordpress.com or call Alison Reed on 01922 458595