By David Fulmer
Aspiring writers among The Porch Press readership–and around the entire city, for that matter–have a unique opportunity with the Atlanta Writers Club (AWC)
Unique, because it’s one of the best writers’ organizations in the nation, with a swelling membership and a growing slate of classes, workshops, and other offerings throughout the year.
The club is over a hundred years old, but it’s been in the last twenty that its profile has risen, with visits from published authors, classes, workshops, critique groups, and larger events like the biannual Atlanta Writers Conference, in which authors are invited to submit samples of their works to literary agents and are treated to critical reviews from published authors.
As club president Ron Aiken puts it, “Our members span the range of genres and experience, and this mix of novelists, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, journalists, essayists, academics, and assorted scribblers includes those just starting to explore the possibility of becoming a writer to those who have been successfully publishing for years. This potpourri has generated a wonderfully active and encouraging environment for creative growth.”
The most popular dates on the club’s calendar are the meetings that take place the third Saturday of every month at Georgia State University’s Dunwoody Campus. Each meeting features a varying slate of programs for fiction, narrative non-fiction, and memoir writers, including talks on research, plot structure, and character development, as well as advice on pitching books and short stories to agents and editors. Finally, the club hosts social events like a summer picnic and a Christmas party. The cost of a membership with access to all of these offerings is $50 a year, with discounts for family members. The club website is www.atlantawritersclub.org.
In addition to being a member, author David Fulmer currently teaches a writing class at each AWC meeting through May.
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