Upcoming Events

4th February – Kate Rhodes

We are delighted to welcome crime and mystery novelist Kate Rhodes to our first event of 2025. Kate completed an English Degree and PhD on Tennessee Williams while living in the USA. She now lives and writes poetry and novels in Cambridge. Her latest books are the Isles of Scilly Mysteries, featuring

Our monthly writers’ events are held at: Hartington Grove Meeting House.

91-93 Hartington Grove
Cambridge
CB1 7UB

Non-members are welcome to attend most events, at a charge of £3. Please contact our chairman Harry Goode if you would like to come along.

If you have any suggestions for speakers you would like to hear at our writers’ events, please contact our programme secretary, Karin Milner.

Recent Events

30th April 2020 – Flash Fiction Competition

* Due to the coronavirus this competition is held as an online event  *   Note that this event has been brought forward. It is a members only competition.   Here are the rules: One piece of fiction per member, which must not exceed 250 words. It must have a title of not more than 10 words. This is not

3rd March 2020 – Annual General Meeting

There will be reports on the past year's activities, All existing officers are willing to stand again, but if you fancied a turn at a post, this would be welcomed. Following the practice started last year, the meeting will choose  the theme for then 2021 Short Story Competition. After the formal business Hannah Hooton, our Publicity Officer, has devised a

4th February 2020 – Short Story Competition Judging Event

The annual Short Story Competition is judged this year by Una McCormack who has given us a presentation in September, 2018. Una teaches Creative Writing at Anglia Ruskin University. She is an expert on Science Fiction and Fantasy, author of a number of tie-in novels to Star Trek and Dr Who.

3rd December 2019 – Jane Carter Woodrow

Jane Woodrow is a local writer, writing for TV, eg, In Suspicious Circumstances, The Bill, The Thieving Headmistress etc.  Also she is a criminologist and crime author appearing on news programmes, documentaries and factual dramas about serial killers. Her books "Rose West: the Making of a Monster" and "After Evil" – telling the true story of a 17-year old whose mum was murdered by the Yorkshire

5th November 2019 – The Art of Illustration

Amanda Hall is an award-winning illustrator, renowned for her wonderfully decorative and colourful children’s book illustrations. She excels at capturing the visual worlds of different cultures, their peoples, animals and landscapes as well as their spiritual traditions. Amanda will give us an introduction into the art of illustration and talk about her latest book, ‘Out of this World’, is the

1st October 2019 – Workshop: importance of style over substance

This workshop is for debating the idea of whether an exciting story is better or worse than a stylistically strong story – or whether they are equally important? 

3rd September 2019 – Interactive Storytelling

Hannah Hooton will give the presentation "Interactive Storytelling: The Art of Reader Engagement", which explores different creative writing techniques that help to give our readers a more personal and immersive experience with heightened emotional impact. Hannah is the author of eight indie-published novels, writing both adult equestrian romance and Young Adult paranormal mystery, with two number one Amazon bestsellers within

4th June 2019 – Flash Fiction Competition

This is a members-only competition. A few rules to make this a successful event: Stories must be no longer than 250 words. They must have a title, which is not part of the word count. Bring a printed copy of your story to the evening. It must not bear your name. Stories will be read by one of two readers

7th May 2019 – Anne Atkins

Anne Atkins has written three novels, all with a Cambridge aspect: The Lost Child, On Our Own, and A Fine and Private Place. Her fourth (working title: An Elegant Solution) follows the life of the child protagonist of On Our Own, living in the famous Cambridge College where he sang as a chorister, now working as a Junior Research Fellow in

2nd April 2019 – The link between poetry and prose

All writers seek to convey a message, a story or a feeling through their work, but writers of prose and poetry often work in very different ways. As a result of this, many people believe that the two types of writing are polar opposites, and so different as to appear almost incompatible. But this is simply not the case. There

5th March 2019 – Annual General Meeting

Of all our meetings, this is the gem, the much looked-forward-to AGM.   Well, yes, there will be a little formal business, but don’t cower at home in fear. There is only one vacant Committee post, that of Publicity Officer. It involves writing a press release about those general meetings when we have speakers, and once a year trying to

5th February 2019 – Short Story Competition Judging Event

The annual Short Story Competition is judged this year by Ingrid Jendrzejewski who has given us a presentation in May, 2018. Ingrid received a BFA in Creative Writing and a BA in English literature and has since won 11 writing competitions, judged three short-story contests, had around 100 pieces published, and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Vestal’s VERA Award,