We are a new group but, really, I'm surprised we didn't exist long ago. Athens, GA has long been known as a creative mecca. The world-famous music scene has now been joined by an expanding art and crafting contingent. Yet for some reason Athens is not as well known for its writers and writing, even though we have UGA, Terry Kay, and had the wonderful Harriett Austin Writer’s Conference for many years.
AWA was the idea of Katherine Cerulean and, along with her, the original founders are Jill Hartmann, Jennifer Innes, Elsa Russo, and Rob White.
Now come meet our wonderful, talented writers, read their words, and get excited about living near so many rising literary stars!
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AWA is dedicated to freely promoting fellowship, support, and the books of all Athens, GA area writers. Whatever you write — fiction, non fiction, poems, screenplays, etc — you are welcome here.
All content on this site is copyrighted by the original creators or by Katherine Cerulean and the Athens Writers Association. Copyright 2013-2016. Rock on.
Athens Writers Association 
I am in the UK, but would love to join you once I am back in the states! I am a publisher in the UK!
Cool — we would love to have you. How do I get to read what you’ve written?
I have an after dark short story you might like to read at the Globe on the 26th. I sat in a few times with a writing group in the past. I wasn’t ready. Is this for seasoned writers or rookies?
Hi Dave,
We’ve already filled the slots for the read on the 26th (though we’d love you to come down to The Globe to meet us and hang out). However, we are now accepting readers for our May 10th ‘Writers Read III’ event. It’s not ‘after dark’ but your story might still be appropriate. We’re looking for pieces about 8-10 minutes long and you have to come to a pre-event table read if you’ve never read with us before (basically just so we can help you and your piece be as good as possible for the event). To me, the most exciting part of these readings is hearing new, talented voices and I’d love to hear yours. Feel free to email me with any questions katherinecerulean@gmail.com
Hi- my 9 year old is interested in expanding her writing – do you know of any local opportunities for her as far as groups/workshops? Thanks!
I don’t know of any aimed specifically at kids. We are thinking of doing a kid’s workshop in the spring, so I’ll let you know if that comes through. Also, we have a 10 y.o. and her mother who had attended a couple of our ‘Meet & Greet’ and ‘Writing Promp’ events. I think the Meet & Greet was a little boring for the child but she apparently really enjoyed writing promps. Feel free to bring her to one of our events (we can keep it pretty PG) and we’ll try to help figure out what she’d enjoy most. Best wishes!
Hello fellow writers,
I was so pleased to find you on the Internet! Katherine, your workshop looks like it was wonderful. I’d like you all to know about another workshop in Athens, on memoir writing. It’s being sponsored by our publisher, Deeds Publishing (www.deedspublishing.com), and will be presented by two of us writers, Kathryn Gray White and myself. (Over the years we’ve acquired the nickname “the Memoir Mavens.”) The workshop is free. As writers, you may want to get to know this publisher that is in your own town. If you’re not interested in writing a memoir, no worries, these tips are good for any writing and, in any case, it’ll be a fun afternoon with other writers. I hope to see you there! Linda Hughes (www.mudsillmemoirs.com)
December 5th
1:00-3:00
Location: Richard Russell Special Collections Library
Room #285
300 S. Hull St., Athens, GA 30602
Parking deck next door – free on Saturday
Thanks so much Linda! I’ll let our writers know via our FB page. Good luck with your class!
Greatly appreciated. Hope to see you there. Best, Linda
I’m one of the volunteer organizers of the Kauai Writers Conference, and wanted to let you and your members know about our 2016 events. Would you be willing to get the word out to your audience? We’re a volunteer-run, 501 c 3 nonprofit running entirely off of proceeds so we use “guerrilla marketing” and direct outreach methods like this to try to generate awareness. I hope you don’t mind this way of reaching out. This year, we’re offering Master Classes taught by top authors and literary agents that go from October 31, 2016 through November 3. Each Master Class is limited to 15 participants and is focused on a specific genre (see below). Each provides four hours of instruction per day with a master instructor who is a prize-winning and best-selling professional in that field.
The conference takes place from November 4 – 6, 2016. The three days are packed with presentations by best-selling authors, top literary agents, and publishing professionals. There also will be evening events and opportunities for direct feedback on your work from literary agents, as well as the opportunity to pitch your work to them. These events may be attended separately or together.
The Master Classes include:
Memoir Writing with Luis Urea, winner of the American Book Award, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and New York Times best seller
Thriller Writing with Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best seller and five-time Bram Stoker Award Winner;
Fiction with Nicholas Delbanco, the author of 25 books and the former chair of the National Book Awards Fiction Panel, and literary agent Jeff Kleinman, who represents Garth Stein (The Art of Racing in the Rain) among others.
Screenplay writing with Larry Barber, who wrote and produced Gene Rodenberry’s Andromeda, and wrote for the X-Files, Cagney & Lacey, Nash Bridges, The Commish, Seven Days, Profiler, 21 Jump Street, Roar, First Wave, The Net, WitchBlade, and more.
Great prices available now:
$595 for the Master Class workshops (full price will be $645)
$465 for the conference (full price will be $550)
$998 for the package deal: conference plus your choice of Master Class (full price will be $1195)
Gorgeous Setting in Paradise
The setting for the Master Classes is the incredibly beautiful library at Na Aina Kai, a gorgeous botanical garden in Kilauea. Our conference is held at the gorgeous oceanfront Kauai Courtyard Marriott in Kapaa. Right now, there are some amazing round trip airfare sales prices. Check out http://www.beatofhawaii.com and you’ll find fares from the West Coast for $156 each way and from the East Coast at $410 round trip. We’ve also arranged discounted hotel rooms at the Marriott Courtyard.
For more information, go to www.kauaiwritersconference.com or feel free to call me at 808-639-4638.
Best,
David Rosenberg, President
daver@kauaiwritersconference.com
Phone: 808-639-4638
http://www.kauaiwritersconference.com
(a 501c3 nonprofit corporation)
I’ve put this info on our FB page — hope you get some takers!
I would love to join Athens Association I am local and I already have a book out on the market already. Just need help on casting a wider net to get more fans
We’ll glad to have you! And coming to one of our events or meetings is a great way to find authors with the experience you’re looking for. Hope to see you soon!
Hi Katherine,
I’m a college student at University of North Georgia, and I absolutely love to write! I recently just saw your club online, and I am so incredibly interested in joining. Also, I’m interested in joining the meeting that’s set up for Friday at Jittery Joes. What will I need to do before I can come? Thank you, and I’m so excited that I found this! Can’t wait to meet all of you!
I sent you an email! Welcome to the group!
Katherine, Jill, Jennifer, Vista…enjoyed the gathering yesterday at Jittery Joe’s on Epps Bridge Parkway.
Thanks for sharing.
Alan
It was very nice talking to you again too!
as you can see I found your blog and have scanned through many of your posts so far Katherine. Keep up your excellent work.
Alan
Thank you! Besides the AWA blog, you can also see my personal blog at katherinecerulean.com
HI! I just found you and I am interested in becoming a member–meeting locally, participating with you in critique, etc. Please let me know how to go about joining. Thanks. Lisa
Welcome! The membership of the AWA is comprised of an elite group of authors who have — asked to join. 😉 So you’re in!
We have an informal meeting on the last Sun. of the month as well as other events such a read-ins and write-ins and classes — our Meetup.com page is the best place to see what’s coming up for the Athens Writers Association.
You can find our free Meetup.com page at — http://www.meetup.com/People-Who-Have-Come-Alive-Achieving-Your-Dreams-in-Athens/
And on the sidebar of the website, you can join our FB page or get the newest website posts in email form.
We’d love get to know you and there are no dues for the AWA.
Besides our last Sunday of the month meeting, feel free to put any other writing-related meet-ups on our meetup.com page. Right now, I have a weekly “Write-In” on Wednesday afternoons that are a lot of fun. We also have a comedy collection just out in paperback and we’re having a public reading of that book on September 9th. We have an online critique group forming right now if you want in and there might be an opening in the local critique group that meets IRL. I’m also going to be teaching some writing classes for the Association this fall too.
Hope to meet you soon!
Best wishes,
Katherine
Katherine, thank you for your detailed note. I’ll be looking about at the sites you suggest. I will also plan to join in on the last Sunday meeting. Off to check out Meetup now.
Cheers–lisa
Hi! I have just discovered this group when looking for youth writing classes to take part in. Do you guys know of any classes in creative writing, fiction, short stories, poetry, etc. that is targeted for teens here in Athens? Thanks, Audrey.
Hi Audrey,
Unfortunately I’m pretty far outside the educational framework here in Athens and I don’t know of anything off hand to help you. Athens Tech has classes but I don’t know the age restrictions or requirements (https://www.ed2go.com/atcga/online-courses/beginning-writers-workshop?tab=detail). David Oates tutors and hosts a radio show on WUGA and so you might want to check out his website (http://davidoatesathensga.com/). Lastly, I’d visit the Avid Bookstore and see if they had any suggestions. And always feel free to come hang out with us. Our month ‘Gatherings’ in particular are a great way to meet more writers and one of them might have the answer you seek. Best wishes on your journey!
Audrey call the Lyndon House. I know they have painting, drawing, cartooning classes and may have writing. Also call the OCAF – Oconee County Arts Foundation/Federation they usually have many types of classes.
Hello,
I am a newish Indie author who published the political thriller ‘Malice in the Palace’ on Martin Luther King Day about a year ago. The book received great reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, a 5 star Readers Choice review (posted on Barnes and Noble) and a flattering Writers Choice review. This was encouraging and I decided to write a sequel. Sequel is almost done and I was hoping to meet local authors to share experiences on publishing venues. Don’t want to go with Outskirts Press again. I seek advice on a venue and a desire to meet other local authors. Your group sounds perfect. Thanks!
Hi Lawrence! Congrats on your publishing your book getting some great feedback. One of the reasons I started the AWA was to allow us to all share our knowledge of publishing so we each didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Some of the members are just getting started but others have a good deal of self publishing experience of even traditional publishing experience. And we love to share and help in any way we can.
The monthly ‘Gathering’ (last Sunday of the month [this Sun.] at Jittery Joe’s Epps Bridge) is probably the best place to meet a sampling of authors and get a chance to ask your questions. I can also take a few minutes out of my Write-Ins (same place, every Wed. at 2:00 PM) to sit and talk with you one-on-one. Check out the ‘Coming Events’ section.
Hope to meet you soon and best of luck on your new venture!
Katherine
When is the next gathering of AWA?
Last Sunday of the month, July 28th, at Epps Bridge Jittery Joe’s at 4:00 PM. Have a great day!
Katherine
Thank you.
I will probably drop by next Sunday.
Am I not on a mailing list now?
Alan
alan@cre8ng.com
Eddie Whitlock has posted extremely racist comments on Facebook. They have been sent to your Facebook page DMs by multiple people. I suggest you check those.
Hi Josh, I only saw one DM message (from Matthew) but thanks for letting me know. As you might have seen on our Home page, the Athens Writers Association ended in 2019 and we aren’t active on FB or the website anymore. But I’m sorry for the troubling issue and hope your week improves. Best wishes, Katherine