The South Arkansas Writers (SAW) was formed when South Arkansas Community College Creative Writing Instructor, Dana Washington, and several graduates of the class decided to get together monthly to help each grow as writers. The group now includes not just graduates of the class, but anyone who is interested in writing either prose or poetry.

We meet at 2:00 PM, usually on the third Sunday of each month, at Main Street Pizza on the corner of Main and Jackson.

Our meetings are informal and usually include the following:

     1) News of interest to the group
     2) A short program based on something that one of us found and thought
        would be of interest to the rest
     3) Reading of short works (prose or poetry) based on prompts suggested at
        the previous meeting
     4) Suggestion of writing prompts for the next meeting.
     5) Critiques of work submitted by members.
     6) Conversations about anything that interests us.

The South Arkansas Writers has no formal structure. That is, we have no President or other officers and no dues. I (Jack Ryan, 870-862-1907, jackwryan@gmail.com) currently chair the meetings. I also email reminders for the coming meeting as well as informal "minutes" of our last meeting (which I also post to this web site - see the button above) to everyone on our email list. If you would like to be placed on this list, please call or email me.

One of the more important parts of our meetings is the Critique session. These discussions are meant to be friendly assistance: constructive "criticism" as opposed to destructive criticism. Help is the operative word in our discussions.

If you would like to submit one or two items of poetry, short prose, or chapters of a novel, you can attach your files to an email to me and I'll forward them to the rest of the group. Alternatively, you could attach your files to one of my emails to the group and use your "Reply All" function. Everyone in the group can read files in DOC or RTF format. Please send your submissions early enough that we have at least a week before our meeting to consider them.

Any writer willing to help and be helped is welcome to attend our meetings. Click on the "Our Last Meeting" button for info on where and when we'll be meeting.

Page updated: 15 February 2024
Page created: 15 January 2019