As far as I know there are no regular ‘reading ‘ events for poetry and prose in our area – Guildford, Woking, Camberley – so a group of us have decided to test the market.

We have formed a group called Paragram and are currently working out the details of our first event, hopefully to be held on an early November evening in The Chertsey Bookshop, Guildford Street, Chertsey.

We are planning readings of poems and excerpts from longer prose pieces in the comfortable setting, to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and newly baked muffins…and more! There will be a small entrance charge to cover the cost of the venue – they are opening in the evening especially for us – and the event will coincide with the publication of the group’s anthology called, appropriately, A Toe in the Water.

There must be many writers of poetry and short fiction lurking out there in the area just waiting for the opportunity to meet up with like minded people, to share ideas, critiques (gentle!), gossip, improve, laugh (a lot) and to bring their writing to a larger audience. There is nothing like a little warmth and light to help writing to grow.

We plan to invite other established and new writers to read at future events, as well as to garner members for our (currently) small group. Also we would like to encourage open mic opportunities for writers to test the audience for their work, or just generally give their words an airing before wrapping them up carefully and returning them to the drawer, the shoebox, or whatever corner they usually hide in.

If this is something YOU may be interested in, contact me through this blog, or log on to the group’s own blog – www. Para-gram.com  to learn a little more about us.