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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 40 members, including two corresponding members in Australia, one in Turkey and one in France.  Most members live in Reading area whilst others come from Abingdon, Farnborough, Silchester, Slough, Tadley and Thatcham.

Members include novelists, short story and childrens writers, poets, journalists and those writing autobiographies. 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.

Thinking of joining us?

Please contact Dick to find out if we have had to instigate a waiting list - we're in danger of becoming too big to fit in our meeting room!

© Thames Valley Writers' Circle