Tired of writing on your own? We hear you. We know that writing is one of life’s greatest joys – but we also know it can be a lonely pursuit! Fortunately, Manchester has some fantastic regular writing groups to help inspire you and ultimately develop your craft.

FOR SPECIFIC AGE GROUPS

Young Identity delivers regular poetry and spoken word workshops at a range of venues across Manchester, and helps to develop some of the most exciting new young performers on the scene.

South Manchester U3A Writers Group is for writers of retirement age. They meet on the last Friday of the month at Withington Library.

Beyond the Spectrum offer online creative writing groups for neurodivergent and autistic young people.

GENERAL CREATIVE WRITING GROUPS

Cultureword is a writer development organisation that provides opportunities for new and aspiring writers. They host a range of regular writing groups, including Identity – a poetry writing group for Global Majority writers, and a regular novel writing group for Black, Asian and other Global Majority writers.

The Grey Area run a monthly book club and writers group at the Whitworth Art Gallery, with a focus on LGBTQ+ texts.

The Monday Night Group is one of Manchester’s most long-running and established groups. They meet – as their name suggests – every Monday night at 7.30pm.

Manchester Women Writers meet on Wednesdays at 11am-1pm, and cater for women writers of all levels of ability.

Muslim Writers North meet on last the last Friday of the month from 6.30-9pm at Chorlton Library, providing a welcoming and friendly environment for both beginners and advanced scribes.

Fruit Salad Writers are a LGBTQ+ writers group that meet at Social Refuge.

The Writer’s Hour is a focused writing session at Manchester Central Library, led by Kimberly Whittham.

Jot Bookshop Reading and Writing Club is hosted by Altogether Otherwise, every second Wednesday of the month.

Manchester Speculative Fiction meet twice a month – once online, once in person – and cater for writers of all kinds of speculative work (fantasy, horror, sci-fi etc.)

South Manchester Writer’s Workshop meet every Tuesday, 7.30pm-9.30pm at the Emmanuel Church in Didsbury.

Heywood Scribblers meet on the first Wednesday of every month at Heywood Library.

Shut Up And Write! is a group for getting work done. They meet on Saturday mornings.

Manchester Irish Writers meet every other Thursday at the Irish World Heritage Centre.

Beyond the Spectrum offer online creative writing workshops for neurodivergent and autistic adults.

Manchester Writer’s Circle host regular ‘read out’ sessions for feedback, as well as writing sessions to work alongside each other.

Prestwich Writers Group meet on Thursdays at Prestwich Library.

Stockport Storytellers are a writers group that meet twice a month – once in person, and once online.

Serenity Creative Writing Group host a regular writers meet-up in Romiley.

Write Here, Right Now is a monthly writers group hosted by Girl Gang Mcr.

Write Out Loud is a monthly poetry open floor hosted by Waterside Arts in Sale.

Your local library is a great place to enquire about creative writing groups on your doorstep too, as many of them host their own as often as weekly.