Queer Writes is a Sheffield-based community group for the shes, theys, and gays looking to build their writing skills in a space that baulks at traditional ideas of “literary excellence”. At Queer Writes, we are led by the principle that good writing can be improved through collaborative peer-support, mindful and constructive feedback, and a healthy dose of occasionally biting and always witty banter.
Since so many writing spaces thrive on cut-throat scoffing until everyone either quits or develops a painfully bitter taste for self-hatred, we built this group to get away from that. At Queer Writes, we’re moving towards a more accepting, respectful, and mutually supportive space for women, queer folk, and those who don’t fit traditional cis-gender binaries.
No longer will we be governed by supremacist ideas of good writing!
Here, we embrace the quirks and the messes, the awkward and the mundane, the devastating and the depressing. With us, your poems are allowed to rhyme, clichés are original moments to reclaim, and words that would make any other room cringe earn you stank face nods and harmonies of ooooh and aaaah.
Naturally, we have to embrace our inner bitchy, sulky drama queens, but we have just one rule: never at another’s expense and never with even a whisper of cruelty. Bring hostility or a superior attitude into our space and you’ll earn a cascade of eye rolls and, eventually, a very polite invitation to kindly fuck right off.
Queer Writes is organised by its members, for its members.
We’re pretty allergic to hierarchy in all its crusty forms, so anyone who wants to help shape the group is welcome to. No gatekeepers, no secret cabal, no clipboard‑wielding overlord deciding who gets to play. Our sessions are led by the very people who show up, bringing their own brand of chaos, curiosity, and creative brilliance. Join us and explore any and all forms of creative writing to feed and nourish that strange little art‑gremlin living inside you!
We build it together, we run it together, and we grow it together
Messy, Collaborative, and Gloriously Queer!