California Writers Club NEWS

Ekphrastic writing is a literary response to a selected artwork. The editors have selected 15 images out of 276 submitted pieces for California Writers Club members to now submit their literary reactions for Vision and Verse, a Fusion of Poetry, Prose, Art and Photography. The submission period ends March 7th.

Here is where you can view the selected art.
Submit your literary response here.

As before the Literary Review will represent a sample of the best writing by members. Branches will select submissions from their own membership and send the works to a team of CWC judges, one poem and one prose piece from branches with up to 50 members or two poems, two stories from branches 51 to 100 members. Firm deadline: midnight February 28, 2024.

An ekphrastic work combines vivid description by a writer of a scene or piece of art, essentially representing a painting in words.

Vision and Verse, a fusion of Art and Photography will come out in 2024. Members have provided the art for consideration. Judges will shortly announce their selections and the date by which members must submit their accompanying poetry or prose. 

The California Writers Club presented its highest tributes on Sunday, October 22, at the annual Central Board meeting and Awards Luncheon. Ina Coolbrith Service Awards recognize outstanding efforts on behalf of the statewide organization, and Jack London Service Awards honor member contributions to their branches.

We celebrated three “Ina” winners, Carole Bumpus (San Francisco/Peninsula), Sandy Moffett (Writers of Kern), and Elisabeth Tuck (Mt. Diablo), and 21 “Jack London” recipients, Kymberlie Ingalls (Berkeley), Nancy Middleton (Central Coast Writers), Carole L. Wagener (Coastal Dunes), Janis Kunz (East Sierra / Ridge Writers), Scott Davidson (Fremont Area Writers), Mike Apodaca (High Desert), Judy Kohnen (Inland Empire), Russ Thompson (Long Beach), Diane Vickers (Marin), Jill Hedgecock (Mt. Diablo), Lenore Hirsch (Napa Valley Writers), Lynn Tosello (North State Writers), Mary Vensel White (Orange County), Crissi Langwell (Redwood Writers), Gloria Pierrot-Dyer (Sacramento), Karen Gorback (San Fernando Valley), Tim Flood (San Francisco/Peninsula), Pam Van Allen (San Joaquin Valley Writers), Trenton Myers (South Bay Writers), Constance Handstedt (Tri-Valley Writers), Donee Harris (Writers of Kern), and Katherine Heinmann Brown (Writers of the Mendocino Coast).

Here’s a video of the awards presentation.

Capping off California Writers Week, the California Writers Club will hold our annual Central Board business meeting and also our Jack London Awards ceremony (held every other year) on Sunday, October 22 at the Oakland Holiday Inn at the Airport. The meeting will run from 10:00 a.m. to noon, followed by the Awards Luncheon 12:00-3:00 p.m.

For the Jack London Award, each branch may select a member whose invaluable efforts have advanced the mission of the CWC and its impact on their respective communities.

As established by State Legislature and Gubernatorial Proclamation, California observes California Writers Week the first third week of every October.

CWC branches will celebrate with special events across the state, from Sacramento Branch’s readings and book signings by their member authors at bookstores (Avid Readers in Davis, Oct. 17, 6-8 p.m., Ruby’s Books in Folsom, Oct. 18, 5-7 p.m., and Avid on Broadway in Sacramento, Oct. 19, 4:30-6p.m.); Tri-Valley Writers’ ”How to Build Your Writer’s Platform Using Storytelling Crossover Tips” program by Chris Hennessy on Oct. 21, 2 p.m., Las Positas College, Livermore (RSVP required); Fremont Area Writers exhibit all month in the Fremont Main Library showing the proclamation and branch banner accompanied by copies of books published by the branch’s authors, and QR code and website information to sign up and become a member; and Redwood Branch’s “Gratitude, Attitude, Collaboration” by Jill Lublin plus a pop-up performance by Off the Page Readers Theater on Oct. 21. In the south, the East Sierra Branch will have a month-long display on California Writers at the Ridgecrest Branch of the Kern County Library, and an hour-long reading of stories, poems, and songs by members in the Children’s Room of the library, Oct. 21, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

This year, being an odd-numbered year, each board has to consider nominees for the Jack London Service Award. Each CWC branch may nominate one member to receive a Jack London Award in recognition of outstanding service to the organization. The award honors a member whose service to the CWC and/or a branch has been exemplary. The JLA may only be received by a member once. It is not mandatory that a branch designates a recipient simply because the opportunity exists. This year, the honorees will receive their awards at a luncheon on Sunday, October 22, at the Oakland Airport Holiday Inn. A two-hour business meeting will precede the award luncheon.

Kristen Caven, CWC representative to Oakland’s Friends of Joaquin Miller Park, and the Friends of Joaquin Miller Park are leading an initiative to have the City of Oakland formally change the name from the park’s Fire Circle to the California Writers Circle. On this popular location for CWC picnics, Joaquin Miller held his outdoor salons — High Jinx (plays, readings) and Low Jinx (comedy performances) that included Jack London, John Muir, and other famous writers and artists.

The 2022 Literary Review., a juried collection of poems, stories, fiction, and nonfiction by members of the California Writers Club, is now posted on our website. The next Literary Review will be published in 2024. A date for submissions is to be determined. 

Paperback copies of the 2022 CWC Literary Review are available on Amazon.

In appreciation for famed author Dean Koontz’s recent program for our High Desert Branch, the branch made a $300 donation to the Victor Valley Animal Protection League in his name. High Desert interviewed him on a Zoom meeting accessible to all members of the CWC’s 22 branches. Koontz has written 130 books, is published in 38 languages, has sold more than 500 million copies of his works, and is an animal protection activist.

The Northern Region of the CWC provided information booths for the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley in May and the San Francisco Writers Conference 2022 in July. As before, the SFWC gifted every CWC branch with two free day passes to the Poetry Summit and the Screenwriters (Hollywood) Summit with a value of $279 per day

The San Francisco Writers Conference also hosted the CWC in a panel entitled “Success Stories from a Writers Group – the California Writers Club.” The panel, composed of five members of the NorCal Group – Andrew Benzie, Kim Edwards, Kymberlie Ingalls, Evelyn LaTorre, and Terry Tierney – spoke about how their experiences in the CWC helped them in their own literary successes:

Following Covid setbacks, the Southern Region of the CWC resumed its annual mini-grant program by closing out the 2021-22 fiscal year with awards of two $200 mini-grants. The first, presented by the High Desert Branch, went to the San Bernardino County Library’s Adult Literacy Program. The second, through the East Sierra Branch, assisted with relocation expenses for Bishop’s Imagination Lab. The Lab’s writing classes, poetry and play readings, performances by local musicians, artists’ exhibits and receptions, as well as “adult story hours,” had to shut down during the pandemic in March 2020. Circumstances had forced them to move from Bishop to Lone Pine.

The submission window has closed. Watch this site for announcements on the next call for submissions, open to all members of the California Writers Club.

Originally planned for February 17-20, the San Francisco Writers Conference has rescheduled to July 21-24 owing to Covid considerations. A proud partner and sponsor of the prestigious event held at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero, San Francisco., the California Writers Club will have a table there July 22-24. Because the California Writers Club’s mission statement mirrors that of the SFWC, we are able to reach out to many of the same writers who are seeking help, support and encouragement in their writing by providing them with information about our club.

The mission of the San Francisco Writers Conference (www.SFWriters.org) is to build bridges to better tomorrows for writers connected to the conference by giving writers the information and inspiration they need to write and sell their books, make them successful, and reach their literary and financial goals. The SFWC offers a forum for writers, agents, publishers, and writers’ organizations to build the networks they need by creating a community online and off.

For the second time in CWC’s history, the San Francisco Writers Conference is offering two free passes to every CWC branch throughout the State for their all-day Poetry and Screenwriters Summits on Saturday, July 23. Branches are asked to select two members from their branch to represent them in each of the two summits. The free passes give members free entry to the all-day event and the privilege of mingling with top poets and screenwriters who will be teaching classes throughout that day. Branch presidents must submit the names of their choices on or before June 15, 2022, to NorCalChair@calwriters.org.

The submission window has opened for CWC’s 2022 Literary Review, our annual anthology of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry written entirely by members. Carefully read the submission guidelines before crafting your best, most polished work, and make sure to get it to the editorial team no later than deadline. Here’s the 2021 Literary Review.

As designated by California State Legislature and gubernatorial proclamation, we observe California Writers Week every third week of October with events and activities to commemorate the occasion. For instance, the East Sierra Branch has curated a month-long display at Ridgecrest Branch Library and, on Saturday, October 23, at Ridgecrest’s Red Rock Books, an afternoon of local authors, book signings, word games with prizes, refreshments, and discounts on store merchandise.

Berkeley Branch member Kristen Caven has become the first CWC Writer in Residence at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland, strengthening the relationship between CWC and Joaquin Miller that reaches back to the early 20th century when California writers would meet and socialize at Miller’s home.

Caven’s involvement includes leadership on an “Arts in the Park” event scheduled for Saturday, October 9, that will bring together different organizations for a “blanket and a basket of chow” combined with readings by CWC members. She also has plans to develop a program around her song “Joaquin Miller Went Walkin’” for 2021-22.

Every other year, the California Writers Club bestows its prestigious Jack London Awards to members selected at the local level to recognize outstanding service to their branches. At this point, we have planned an in-person luncheon and awards ceremony for Sunday, October 17, at the Holiday Inn at the Oakland airport. Long-timers with CWC may recall that past celebrations took place in July. We’ve moved it to October this year to give us time to make sure we can hold an in-person gathering feasibly and safely, and to coincide with California Writers Week. Awardees: Watch your email and snail mail for exact details as we approach the date. Branch presidents: Please double-check with your honoree and CB representative to confirm that they received this message.

Infinite hard work throughout the organization has paid off with the Literary Review now near completion. We will soon notify authors whose submissions we have chosen. We expect to ship publications to members later this summer.

Thanks to members who submitted to our 2021 Literary Review. We received approximately 300 pieces of fiction and nonfiction, memoir, poetry, and humor. The submission window has now closed. The judges have begun their deliberation. If we have selected your work, we will notify you before autumn 2021 publication.

Every two years, the club recognizes outstanding volunteer service by an individual at each branch. The merit of the award reflects service and positive contribution to our writing community, independent of writing achievement. We consider the “JLA” one of the highest distinctions given to a member by the State CWC. Branches must inform the committee of their 2021 selection no later than April 9, 2021.

Representatives from the branches of the California Writers Club met on Zoom for the annual Central Board meeting on Sunday, July 19. They reported addressing the Covid shut-downs with a wide range of very successful activities on the local level, ranging from monthly speaker events and critique groups on Zoom to contests and publishing projects and even a virtual picnic. Many remarked that the technology has opened new possibilities in terms of presenters who live too far away to travel to give a program, but will gladly do social media from their own homes.

High Desert Branch in Apple Valley created a pandemic anthology, soliciting works from CWC members statewide. They also phoned each branch member to stay in touch and keep their community of writers connected. Individually, CWC members have said they used the Covid stay-in-place restrictions to sit at their keyboards and tackle creative endeavors they previously managed to put off.

To find available cyber-gatherings, go to the Branches page on this website and click on each location.

The submission window for the Literary Review closed March 31, 2020. Judges have reviewed the over 300 submissions we received and narrowed them down to top-tier candidates. We will make final selection shortly, and inform all contributors who will appear in the publication. Distribution is scheduled for early autumn.

Although they’ve had to drop in-person meetings for the past few months, many California Writers Club branches have migrated their monthly programs to Zoom. In most instances, they invite the general public to join in on their lively offerings. To find listings, go to Branches on this website, then click on what interests you, then go to their individual newsletters for specific details.

Book tours we prepped for at killer pace have slid through our fingers. Face-to-face meetings have gone on hiatus. Several branches have expanded their social media programs. One started a writing contest, followed by plans for an anthology of fiction about pandemics. One member leads a homegrown team that has turned out 5000 masks. Many of us found time for that writing project we could never quite get around to before.

For inspiration and kindred spirits, check out branch social media activities and contests by clicking on each branch under the Branches tab. Remember that with social media, you don’t necessarily have seek a branch where you live.

Meanwhile, we look forward our next face-to-face meetings — after the crisis passes — to reunite, reconnect, and jubilate with the friends who rode through the fire together with us.

More than a dozen members of the California Writers Club met at the Regal Theater on Jack London Square, Oakland, CA, on Saturday, February 29, to see the new movie The Call of the Wild inspired by Jack London’s novel. The CWC traces its roots to gatherings of Jack London and friends in the Bay Area a little more than 100 years ago.

Berkeley Branch members Dirk Wales and Linda Brown staffed a table in the building lobby, featuring Wales’ book Jack London’s Dog. Following the screening, Brown led a brief history tour along the wolf tracks to the Jack London statue and Heinold’s First and Last Chance Saloon, where London long ago studied as a lad of 10. Six members gave readings from their books.

We’re looking for your best work — fiction, poetry, memoir, and essay, including excerpts from previously published writing — for publication in the 2020 California Writers Club Literary Review.

Submissions are open to current members of California Writers Club and will be accepted from until March 31, 2020.

Works will be reviewed and selected for possible publication by a panel of acquisition editors through a blind judging process.

You will be notified by email as to whether your piece will be included in the 2020 Literary Review shortly before publication in autumn of 2020.

See Submission Guidelines and FAQs.

Building bridges to a better tomorrow for writers over Presidents Day Weekend 2020 at the Hyatt Regency, San Francisco, the San Francisco Writers Conference offers 100+ presenters (including 20 literary agents), 80+ sessions, classes, and lectures, Poetry Summit, Screenwriters Summit, networking social events, and more.

With its mission statement mirroring that of the SFWC, the California Writers Club will again have a booth to reach out to writers seeking help, support, encouragement, experienced guidance, and information about the club. In addition, four CWC members will host the panel “Book Written, Conference Attended, Notes Taken…And Now What? The Big Unknown: Plan for it and Succeed?” on Sunday, February 16 at 11:30 a.m.

This is CWC’s eighth year at the conference as an exhibitor. For further details about the SFWC visit sfwriters.org.