CHILTERN WRITERS
How do I become a member?
Annual membership runs from January to December and fees for 2025 are £25 per year. If you join after 30th June then the fee for the rest of the year is £13.
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Alternatively you are welcome to come along as a visitor, for a fee of £5 payable at the meeting.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
HOW DO I JOIN A MEETING FOR THE FIRST TIME?
We are always delighted to meet prospective members and you're welcome to attend as a visitor for as many meetings as you like before deciding to join us. The visitor cost is £5, payable at the meeting.
If you have any queries then please use the contact page on this website. Alternatively you can email chilternwriters@outlook.com or contact us via Facebook or Twitter (@ChilternWriters).
DO I HAVE TO BE A MEMBER TO PARTICIPATE?
You do not need to be a member to take part in the meetings, including reading out your own material at our manuscript evenings. You are also welcome to attend our Christmas social in December.
However, if you wish to enter our annual writing competition then you do need to be a paid-up member of Chiltern Writers.
IF I JOIN CHILTERN WRITERS WILL ANY VISITOR FEES BE REFUNDED?
We are unable to refund any visitor fees paid unless you decide to join the group, in which case that evening's visitor fee will count towards the cost of membership.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
February 2026
Manuscript Evening
These regular evenings allow members of the group to read out something they've written and receive constructive criticism, or to ask for views on particular aspects of their work. Depending on how many people want to read, we usually allow a maximum of five minutes per person (roughly equivalent to a maximum of 1,000 words) with a few minutes afterwards for a discussion of each piece. The quality and variety of the writing is always impressive, so even if you don't want to read something out yourself, these meetings are always worth attending.
March 2026
Words - The Writer's Lego Kit
Words are the basic building block of the writer, but how do we choose which ones to use? Perhaps it’s time to inject life into our writing by refreshing our vocabulary. Should we revive old words that have fallen out of fashion? Or update our vocabulary with hot new neologisms? Maybe invent some of our own? Lesley Ellis will take us through these questions with a series of exercises.
April 2026
AGM and Short Story Winners
Our Annual General Meeting, which will be followed by the announcement of the winners of our 2026 short story competition. The winners will then be invited to read out their winning stories.
Previous Meetings and Events
October 2025
Andy Nairn has spent 30-plus years working in advertising and his non-fiction book about that world (Go Luck Yourself) has been translated into several languages, including Chinese and Korean. But more recently, he’s published two historical murder mysteries (as A.K. Nairn) and that’s what he focused on in our session. His analogy is that writing historical fiction is a bit of a minefield and, in this session, he walked us through the booby-traps to get us to a good discussion, unscathed.
November 2025
Ben Moorhouse, owner of Our Bookshop, spoke about running his business alongside Tring Book Festival and one off author appearances. Are these events a commercial necessity or out of a love of books? Or both? He also discussed the demand and opportunity of supporting local authors.
December 2025
Our Christmas social, which included a quiz and the winners of our 2025 short story competition reading out their entries.