California Writers' Club

The California Writers Club formed in 1909 as an offshoot of the Press Club of Alameda, a club with origins in the San Francisco Bay Area literary movement of the early twentieth century. Early honorary members of the California Writers Club included Joaquin Miller, John Muir, Jack London, Gertrude Atherton, Kathleen Norris and the first California poet laurete, Ina Coolbrith. The first West Winds, a hardcover collection of fiction by members, was published in 1914 and was illustrated by California artists. In the thirties and early forties, the Club became involved in the development of the Woodminster Amphitheater, a WPA project, and the Writers Memorial Grove, in Joaquin Miller Park in the hills of Oakland, Calif. They held their first California Writers Club Conference in Oakland in 1941. With over 1300 members throughout the state in 2012, the California Writers Club is the largest writer's organization in the state. The Club's goal is to promote fellowship, and the personal and professional growth of writers.