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The Writers' Hub: A Creative Oasis in Coventry


The Writers' Hub was my destination on Saturday morning, one of the coldest days of this winter so far. It was foggy outside but warm and welcoming inside the Central Library, Coventry, which is where the hub meets fortnightly.


Set up by Jo Roberts, BBC Coventry and Warwickshire's First Poet Laureate - to my shame, I didn't even know they had one - the hub is a group of Coventry writers who range from beginners to award winners. Started over 18 years ago, it has grown into a lively and mutually encouraging group of writers who want to improve and progress their writing as well as to be motivated, encouraged and challenged.



As Jo explained, some just enjoy the process of writing, some are looking to write a best seller, some award-winning poetry, some write across several genres and are happy to tackle a range of disciplines and some come along because they want to take that first step into creative writing.


Jo herself has been writing for over 35 years and has run writing workshops throughout the area and also gives talks on the process of creative writing. Her work includes poetry on the Guardian website, in anthologies (Bluebeard's Wives, published by Heaven Tree Press, Come into the House, published by Corazon Books) pantomime scripts for radio and Midlands Today TV. She has been highly placed in national poetry, scriptwriting and short story competitions and is the National Winner of the Sir Alan Ayckbourn award for Best Ten Minute Play in 2017, 2019 and runner up in 2020 and 2024.


I think if I had read all the background information on Jo, I would have been completely tongue-tied in her presence. As it was, I launched into my talk about "My Journey Into Print" without a second thought and felt inspired by the engaged response of the audience and the interesting question and answer session afterwards.


I hope they enjoy reading No Going Back and After as much as I enjoyed talking about them.



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