Bealtaine originated in a series of workshops offered by the IWC and Age and Opportunity as part of the Bealtaine Festival celebrating creativity in older people in May 1999. Eithne Strong was the facilitator. Members of the group were so enthusiastic that they continued meeting monthly, losing and gaining members on the way. Their core numbers are eight to ten.

Now, ten years later, they still meet monthly to write, read and workshop poems. They are also poets in residence at The Hugh Lane Gallery. Bealtaine are a democratic group all sharing in facilitating new work and leading workshops. They are open to new members who are older, experienced poets.

"We continue to be hosted by the IWC and we owe our longevity in a large part to meeting in this beautiful and congenial environment."

In 1987, Arlen House, the feminist publishing house, invited a group of twelve women writers to participate in a series of workshops. The initiative was designed to encourage and help Irish women to become serious writers, at a time when it was perceived that women were under-represented in the Irish literary canon. The poet, Eavan Boland, whose own work had been ground-breaking, facilitated most of the workshops in the series; Clare Boylan, the novelist, taught one of them.  When the Arlen House project finished, eleven of the participants decided to continue meeting to peer review their own work. So the WEB Women Writers’ Group was born. 

The group has met monthly since 1987. Initially the workshops took place in members’ homes. Since 1992, however, the group has been happy to use the facilities of the Irish Writers’ Centre for its meetings, which are held once a month, on Saturday afternoons.

Over the years, many of the WEB writers have established successful literary careers. Several have published books, had plays and film scripts produced, and many have won prestigious literary prizes.  The Group is not all hard work: we have holidayed abroad together, attended festivals such as the James Joyce Summer Festival in Trieste, and liaised with other writers’ groups, such as ‘Word of Mouth,’ in Derry.  And there have been quite a few parties!

This writing group meets on the first Thursday of every month at 6.30pm. For more details call 01 8482833. Location: Donaghmede Library.

Swords Writers was formed in August 2008 to give local writers a platform to develop their work and actively write.The group supports the development of local writers, whether published or unpublished, through peer support and fair criticism. The group is made up of poets, novelists, short-story writers, screen writers and journalists.They are a non-profit group run by volunteers. A committee is elected on a twelve month basis and these members run the meetings and group events.They meet every second week for two hours in the Hawthorn Hotel, Swords, Co. Dublin. Contact: info@swordswriters.ie.