Our History
In 1982, author Elizabeth Jolley and Julie Lewis held a writing workshop. Several attendees from that workshop decided to use the ideas presented and help each other develop their writing skills. As a result, Gosnells Writers Circle was formed.
Over the years, the Circle has occupied several 'homes' for their meetings: the Thornlie Library, the home of Honorary Life member Shirley Sutherland and for many years, the Knowledge Centre at the Agonis building in Gosnells.
Over time, new members joined, old members left but overall the Circle grew steadily. Today we boast a full-house of 30 members and sadly that means we are at full capacity (according to the meeting room guidelines in our new 2020 home – Leisure Centre Thornlie).
Unfortunately, that means we cannot accept new members at the moment but please join our Circle of Friends (see our Contact page) and stay in touch. We'll let you know if a position becomes available.
What We Do
We support and encourage the craft of writing in all its forms: Short Stories, Poetry, Novels, Flash Fiction, Novellas, Plays, Reviews, Memoirs, Blogs, Articles.
Our members meet on the first and third Friday of each month from February until December. Currently, we meet at Leisure World in Thornlie (Western Australia) at 11:30 am until 2:30 pm. In our first session, members read their pieces of writing from the homework theme assigned at the previous meeting. We always get an excellent variety of homework pieces and we are constantly amazed at the many different takes on the one theme! After a wonderful shared lunch, our second session can sometimes be a workshop (on grammar, writing, editing or publishing) or we may have a writing exercise using visual or verbal prompts. We also sometimes have guest authors, which is always a highlight.
We are the proud publishers of Showcase Literary Magazine and we now publish two editions per year. We also publish an anthology of our members' work (on average) every two years.
Several of our members have had their books published and others have self-published novels, novellas, anthologies, memoirs, poetry books and children's books. A few members have had their work published online on various websites, or in (non-GWC) anthologies and magazines. Many of our members have been successful in writing competitions over the years. We are extremely proud of all members of our Circle.
Anthologies
In 1983, to celebrate their one year anniversary, Gosnells Writers Circle produced and published their first anthology: a small 28 page book called
“Let’s Entertain: Holiday Reading from the Gosnells Writers’ Circle”.
An anthology of members’ work has been published every two or three years since 1983, except for the year 2000, when two anthologies were published.
1986 “Down Under – A Westward Look”
1988 “Bicentennial Collection”
1991 “Pot-Pourri”
1993 “Our Place – Gosnells and Beyond”
1996 “Gosnells Writers Writing”
1998 “Spirit of Life”
2000 “Millenium Mix”
2000 “Echoes In The Mind”
2003 “Gosnells Writers’ Circle – 21st Anniversary Edition”
2005 “Within the Circle”
2007 “Pen Dance in Silver”
2009 “Write Around the Clock”
2012 “Lustre”
2015 “Exposure”
2017 “Kaleidoscope”
2019 “Pencilled Down”
2022 “The Ruby Collective”
Showcase Magazine
We are the proud publishers of Showcase Literary Magazine.
The first issue of our Showcase Literary Magazine was published in August 2010. Sixteen members contributed articles to that first edition. Of those sixteen contributors, five are still current members.
From 2010 until 2019, Showcase was produced three times a year, with between 24 and 28 pages per issue. Our latest issue, Showcase 30 boasts thirty six pages. From 2020 onwards, two editions per year will be published.
To celebrate our 30th edition and to 'give something back' to the community during the isolation months of early 2020, we offered a free electronic edition of Showcase 30. Check our Free eBooks page to download your copy today.
Showcase contains not only the brilliant pieces of writing submitted by our own members, but also an international section entitled “Circling the World”, where we proudly share articles written by members of various international writing groups and clubs.
Our Showcase magazine is compiled and published by our wonderful Editor-in-Chief, Valerie Latimour. We have two sub-editors who assist: Barbara Gurney and Sioban Timmer.
To keep our costs down and to be able to sell our quality magazine at $4, Showcase offers advertisements to local businesses. Starting at just $20 for a business card size advertisement, these are a great way to promote local businesses. Please contact us for more information.
Current Committee
- Chairperson – Lynne Tatam
- Vice-Chairperson – Valerie Latimour
- Secretary – Jenny Lynch
- Treasurer – Wendy Woods
- PR Officer – Barbara Gurney
- Membership Officer – Norma Edge
- Committee member – Christine Carmichael
- Editor-in-Chief – Valerie Latimour
- Showcase – Valerie Latimour, Barbara Gurney, Lynne Tatam
- Circle of Friends – Barbara Gurney
- Librarian – Norma Edge
- Webmaster – Jenny Lynch
Circle of Friends
Circle of Friends is Gosnells Writers Circle's free monthly newsletter. It is released and distributed in the first week of every month (except January).
Compiled, edited and published by P.R. Officer, Barbara Gurney, the Circle of Friends newsletter contains a wealth of current information about all things 'literary', including news of our members' successes and new publications, literary articles, photographs, a list of writing competitions with closing dates plus much more.
If you'd like to join our Circle of Friends and have a free copy of our newsletter delivered directly to your email inbox each month, simply fill out the form on the Contact page.
“A circle goes forever,
no beginning and no end.
But a circle can get bigger
when you add another friend.”
(Jenny Lynch © 2019)
