Hastings Writers’ Group
Our group was established in 1947, so we can claim to be one of the longest-running writers’ groups in the country. The late Catherine Cookson was a founder member and also our patron for many years. Our current patron is best-selling author of heroic fantasy David Gemmell.
Our
membership is somewhere around the 40 mark and we are a friendly crowd with
wide-ranging interests, some of us published, some still aspiring to be.
Meetings are held fortnightly on Monday evenings and our stimulating
programme includes manuscript evenings with constructive criticism, guest
speakers, workshops, and competitions with judges from the field of professional
writing. We have a Writer of the Year Cup, awarded to the member gaining the
highest accumulated points from five varied competitions and there is also a
separate internal short story competition for the Catherine Cookson Cup.
We are an active group, running a national short story competition, the Legend Writing Award, and also producing an annual anthology, Strandline.
The Legend Writing Award particularly aims to encourage new writers in the UK and is for open-theme short stories up to 2000 words. Six cash prizes are on offer: £500, £250, £100, and 3 x £50. Closing date is 31 August, and entry fee £5. Our patron, David Gemmell, judges the winning entries. The competition is named after his first, and favourite, award-winning book.
Full rules and entry form are available on our competition website www.legendwritingaward.com or by post from LWA, 39 Emmanuel Road, Hastings TN34 3LB. Secretaries of NAWG associated writers’ groups may request multiple forms post-free.
Strandline has become an established and popular anthology, showcasing the work of Hastings Writers’ Group. It contains an imaginative and creative mix of prose and poetry, ranging from light-hearted and humorous to the darker and more serious. All members, from beginners to published writers, have the opportunity to contribute and, additionally, our last two volumes have included the six winning entries from the Legend Writing Award.
We are very proud that Strandline has won two national awards: Volume 3 won the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust anthology award and Volume 4 won the NAWG Denise Robertson Trophy for the best group anthology.
Some
of us with the NAWG Denise Robertson Trophy (2005)
We have now just
produced Strandline Volume 5, which is available at the special price of £7.50,
inclusive of post and packing, from HWG, 39 Emmanuel Road, Hastings, TN34 3LB.
Cheques should be made payable to Hastings Writers Group.
It is also available via most bookshops at £8.99 (Publishers: UPSO Ltd).
A few copies of award-winning Volume 4 are still available at £7.00 post
free.