Upcoming Events

    • 15 Apr 2025
    • 10:00 - 11:30
    • Pages & Sips, Grand-Rue 37, 1204 Genève
    • 5
    Register

    Snippets

    Monthly in-person writing sessions



    Get your writing juices flowing! 

    Creative, themed writing sessions to inspire you for your current project or for a new one, while connecting with local creative writers. We will produce 3-4 snippets of writing from prompts to put our creative minds to work. We will share our creations, either by describing them or reading them out. 

     

    When? The second Tuesday of each month; 10-11.30

    Where? Pages and Sips in the old town, Grand-Rue 37, 1204 Genève

    FOR GWG MEMBERS ONLY!

    Cost: 10 chf, and support our host Pages & Sips by purchasing something (coffee, tea, croissant...)

    Who is the leader? 

    Carol Waites has been a professional writing trainer and coach for 25 years, more recently immersing herself in creative writing. She loves sharing ideas and seeing others’ creative talents unfold. She also loves networking with other like-minded people from different backgrounds. She is now writing her memoir of her time at the United Nations.




    • 07 May 2025
    • 19:00 - 20:30
    • Online (Zoom)
    Register

     The 12 week year for writers:
    Building and executing a productive writing system

    Online workshop

    Imagine you had a writing system that helped you:

    • Clarify your vision and increase the energy you bring to your writing
    • Create a healthy sense of urgency and motivation
    • Focus on the only the most important tasks necessary to reach your goals
    • Design a writing routine that reduced stress by making you more consistent and productive
    • Build confidence that you can finish any writing project you start

    If you had a writing system like this in place today, what would that mean for your writing projects? What would it mean for your peace of mind? What would your life look like in a year? Two years? What might be possible?

    The first half of the workshop will introduce the 12 Week Year for Writers, a proven system for helping writers of all genres plan, execute, and manage their writing. The second half will focus on answering common questions raised by fiction writers about productivity systems:

    • How can I plan creative work, especially if I’m a pantser?
    • How can I use the system to track my writing without getting overwhelmed by metrics?
    • How can I deal weeks that go off the rails?
    • How can I handle busy seasons, non-writing tasks, and multiple projects?
    • How can I break projects into more manageable chunks?

    Where: Online via Zoom. 

    Time: 19:00-20:30 CEST



    Trevor received his Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a professor and a business owner, Trevor has spent more than 20 years using the 12 Week Year system to manage his writing, publishing ten books and edited volumes, a host of academic articles and book chapters, and scores of op-eds and commentaries. His work has been published in outlets such as the Atlantic, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, the Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today, and the Detroit News, among others. He also sat on more than 50 Ph.D. dissertation committees and helped hundreds of students write their undergraduate and master’s theses.

    In 2022 Trevor retired from George Mason University to become a full-time writing coach. Trevor is the author of three books writing including The 12 Week Year for Writers, The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook, as well as The Lightning Draft with Michael Lennington and Miguel Rivera. His mission is to help writers be their most productive selves.

    When he is not writing, coaching writers, or thinking about writing, Trevor is usually on the beach with his wife or walking one of their two naughty dogs.


    • 13 May 2025
    • 10:00 - 11:30
    • Pages & Sips, Grand-Rue 37, 1204 Genève
    • 5
    Register

    Snippets

    Monthly in-person writing sessions



    Get your writing juices flowing! 

    Creative, themed writing sessions to inspire you for your current project or for a new one, while connecting with local creative writers. We will produce 3-4 snippets of writing from prompts to put our creative minds to work. We will share our creations, either by describing them or reading them out. 

     

    When? The second Tuesday of each month; 10-11.30

    Where? Pages and Sips in the old town, Grand-Rue 37, 1204 Genève

    FOR GWG MEMBERS ONLY!

    Cost: 10 chf, and support our host Pages & Sips by purchasing something (coffee, tea, croissant...)

    Who is the leader? 

    Carol Waites has been a professional writing trainer and coach for 25 years, more recently immersing herself in creative writing. She loves sharing ideas and seeing others’ creative talents unfold. She also loves networking with other like-minded people from different backgrounds. She is now writing her memoir of her time at the United Nations.




    • 17 May 2025
    • 13:00 - 19:00
    • Maison des Associations rue des Savoises 15, 1205 Geneve.
    Register


    Okechukwu Nzelu

    Opening a novel:
    What your opening chapters need to do 


    The opening lines to novels like Pride and Prejudice and The Color Purple are some of the most famous words in English literature. But starting a novel well is about more than writing a memorable opening line: novels need to do several things pretty quickly in order to succeed.

    In this course, we will look at some of the most important things that the opening chapters of your novel will need to do – including introducing characters, setting up your plot, conveying your voice and grounding your readers in the setting of your novel. Through discussion, writing prompts and extracts from published works, this workshop will help you explore the best way to start your novel.


    Where: Maison Internationale des Associations, rue des Savoises 15, 1205 Geneva. 

    Time: 13:00-18:30

    13:00 - 16:00 Workshop | 17:00 - 19:00 Critiquing session

    Please note that if you only want to attend the workshop you should purchase a "Morning only" ticket; both sessions are "All day."

    *Please note that the critiquing session is limited to 8 places and is on a first come first served basis. Text should be a maximum of 1400 words.

    (Credit: Ajamu X)                   

    Dr Okechukwu Nzelu FRSL won a Northern Writers' Award from New Writing North in 2015. His debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney (Dialogue Books, 2019), won a Betty Trask Award; it was also shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Polari First Book Prize, and longlisted for the Portico Prize. In 2021, it was selected for the Kingston University Big Read and distributed to all staff and students at three universities. His second novel, Here Again Now (Dialogue Books, 2022) was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award, the Polari Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the Diverse Book Awards. He has made several appearances on national radio, and is a regular contributor to Kinfolk magazine. He is a non-executive director of ALCS and CLA, and Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. In 2024 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.


    • 24 May 2025
    • 10:00 - 13:30
    • Maison International des Associations, Rue des Savoises 15, 1205 Genève
    Register


    The GWG Presents:

    Annual General Meeting

    Saturday 24 May, 10am

    Carson room

    Maison International des Associations, Rue des Savoises 15, 1205 Genève


    Schedule

    10:00 Arrival and coffee

    10:30 AGM

    12:00 - 12:30 Apéro and potluck nibbles (contributions welcome!)

    12:30 - 13:30 GWG Literary Prize 2025 award - presentation and readings 


    Book sale

    Members are welcome to sell copies of their books following the AGM: please note authors will be responsible for handling all transactions (books will not be sold on your behalf and no fees will be incurred).


    The event is free to attend, but please note that you must be a fully paid-up member to vote at the AGM, and to stand for the Steering Committee.


    We need to know numbers in advance! Please register online, or by email at genevawriters@gmail.com 


    • 10 Jun 2025
    • 10:00 - 11:30
    • Pages & Sips, Grand-Rue 37, 1204 Genève
    • 6
    Register

    Snippets

    Monthly in-person writing sessions



    Get your writing juices flowing! 

    Creative, themed writing sessions to inspire you for your current project or for a new one, while connecting with local creative writers. We will produce 3-4 snippets of writing from prompts to put our creative minds to work. We will share our creations, either by describing them or reading them out. 

     

    When? The second Tuesday of each month; 10-11.30

    Where? Pages and Sips in the old town, Grand-Rue 37, 1204 Genève

    FOR GWG MEMBERS ONLY!

    Cost: 10 chf, and support our host Pages & Sips by purchasing something (coffee, tea, croissant...)

    Who is the leader? 

    Carol Waites has been a professional writing trainer and coach for 25 years, more recently immersing herself in creative writing. She loves sharing ideas and seeing others’ creative talents unfold. She also loves networking with other like-minded people from different backgrounds. She is now writing her memoir of her time at the United Nations.




    • 21 Jun 2025
    • 10:30 - 16:30
    • Maison International des Associations rue des Savoises 15, 1205 Geneve.
    Register

    The GWG Presents:

    Zoë Wells

    Submitting to literary magazines


    For many writers, getting their work into literary magazines or anthologies represents their first step into the world of publishing. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to bring a piece step-by-step from concept to publication: from approaches to editing, to insight into how magazine editors assess submissions, to managing submissions processes and ensuring you understand your rights as an author. This session will also feature practical exercises and workshopping, with participants completing the session with the beginning of a project designed for literary magazine submission. Advice will apply across genres and will be relevant to short fiction and creative non-fiction.

    Where: Maison Internationale des Associations, rue des Savoises 15, 1205 Geneva. 

    Time: 10:30-16:30

    10:30 - 13:00 Workshop | 14:00 - 16:30 Critiquing session*

    *Please note that the critiquing session is limited to 8 places and is on a first come first served basis. Text should be a maximum of 1400 words.




    Zoë Wells has worked as an editor and submissions reader at Bandit Fiction, as well as Head Editor at Kamena, during which time the magazine was nominated for a STACK award. Her reviews and creative work has been published in magazines including STORGY, Poetry Wales, and Ink, Sweat and Tears, as well as the anthologies Night-Time Stories (Emma Press), IX: The 2021 Manchester Anthology (Centre for New Writing) and Reclaim: An Anthology of Women’s Lives (Bandit Fiction). Her short fiction has been longlisted for the Bridport and BBC National Short Story Award.


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