California Writers Club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The California Writers Club traces its founding to the San Francisco Bay Area literary movement of the early part of the 20th century.
The informal gatherings of Jack London, George Sterling, and Herman Whitaker, along with others, eventually formed itself into the Press Club of Alameda. In 1909, a break-off group from that club formed the California Writers Club with Austin Lewis serving as the club's first president. A quarterly bulletin--under the guidance of Dr. William S. Morgan--was established in 1912. The club finally incorporated in 1913, choosing the motto Sail On from the Joaquin Miller poem, Columbus.
Early members of the club included Jack London, George Sterling, John Muir, Joaquin Miller, and the first California poet laureate, Ina Coolbrith.
In 1914, the first edition of West Winds, a hardcover collection of fiction by members, was published. It was illustrated by local California artists. Since that time three other West Winds have been published.
Writers Memorial Grove at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland celebrates California's great writers with the planting of trees. The first tree was planted for Joaquin Miller. Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Edward Roland Sill, Ina Coolbrith, Jack London, Mark Twain, Charles Fletcher Lummis, and Edwin Markham are so honored as well as Dashiel Hammett, Gertrude Stein, and historians, Will Durant and Ariel Durant.
The first California Writers Club Conference was held in Oakland in 1941. Today, one-to-three day conferences are held by various Club branches around California. Each attracts from 100 to 400 writers and each conference hosts editors, authors, and publishers from all over the United States presenting lectures, workshops, and panel discussions on all aspects of the writing life.
Annually, one member from each branch is selected to receive a Jack London Service Award in recognition of their contributions to California Writers Club.
The general purposes of the California Writers Club are to provide a forum for literary criticism and for recognition of achievement, to discover new authors and assist them in developing their talent, and to sponsor educational meetings to promote professional growth.
Today, CWC has more than 900 members in 14 branches spread throughout the state.
