We were stunned when this author expressed interest in our event
Pinching ourselves as we head into 2025...
Dear all,
It started, like so many significant historical events, with a tweet.
A group of us responded, and Deborah sent around a form to gather details. At some point we all met via zoom. It quickly became clear that we were less interested in the scope and prestige of AWP than in what we considered its best parts: the off-site readings, visiting a new city and having a place to meet up with all your favourite writing people once a year.
Thus, European Writing Salon was born. It was initially led by Deborah, Eleonora, and Roya. After their wonderful organizing during our taster salon last September, we asked Katherine and Barbara to join us. We also gained steering committee members, a wonderful group of people whose skills and enthusiasm make EWS feel like a bright spot in an increasingly fracturing world. (See who makes up EWS here.)
In the meantime, we’ve expanded our offerings from one annual salon to quarterly Zoom open mics, pop-up salons, and meet-ups at literary events. All with the goal of bringing writers together to commiserate, share work and eat cheese.
And now, as we get ready to announce the wonderful guest speaker for our Annual Salon in Brussels, we want to thank everyone who has followed, shared and joined in the fun. (Because it really is about having fun.)
We hope that through our events—online and in person—writers will make connections that sustain them on their writing journey, whatever stage they are at. We are creating as many opportunities as possible to get together in 2025 and beyond.
Events
OK Finally This Exciting News About Our Brussels Salon!
When: 12-14 September 2025
Where: Full Circle, Flagey, Brussels
We are delighted that our first headline speaker is the incredible writer and literary superstar Kit de Waal. We first connected with Kit on Bluesky, and after a fair bit of squealing, decided to reach out. We feel Kit shares and lives our values entirely—supporting writers, building inclusive community and having fun along the way.
More about Kit
Kit de Waal, born to an Irish mother and Caribbean father, was brought up among the Irish community of Birmingham in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Her debut novel My Name Is Leon was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for 2017. In 2022 it was adapted for television by the BBC.
Her second novel, The Trick to Time, was longlisted for the Women's Prize and her young adult novel Becoming Dinah was shortlisted for the Carnegie CLIP Award 2020. A collection of short stories, Supporting Cast was published in 2020. An anthology of working-class memoir, Common People was crowdfunded and edited by Kit in 2019. Her memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes was published in August 2022.
Kit founded her own TV production company, Portopia Productions and the Big Book Weekend, a free digital literary festival in 2020 and was named the FutureBook Person of the Year 2019. She is a patron of Prisoners Abroad, the Bridport Prize and Writing West Midlands, ambassador of Well-being in the Arts and a trustee of The Reading Agency.
Kit is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor and Jean Humphreys Writer in Residence at Leicester University. Her new novel Best of Everything will be released in April 2025.
More about our Salon
Our Annual Salon (this year in Brussels) will be a fun and relaxed weekend of readings, writing sessions, panels and opportunities to explore Brussels and meet writers from across Europe. Other speakers and sessions will be announced soon.
The theme will be Rooted/Unrooted.
Rooted, Unrooted intends to explore writing in the context of:
being from one place and finding belonging in another
building intentional community in different places and ways
consciously stepping outside our current confines to explore another
celebrating significant places, whether that’s where we are, where we’ve been or where we want to go
exploring what roots us and what can unroot us
Bookings (including bursary places) will open soon, so watch this space. For early booking, please consider becoming a Supporter of EWS (details below).
EWS heads to Berlin
When: Thursday 27 March 2025, 7:30 - 10:30pm CET
Where: Lettrétage, Berlin
We still have a very small number of places left for our open mic salon in Berlin. Reading slots are booked, but we would love for you to join us.
Prices start from FREE and we will send out an email soon to those coming about (loose, non-programmed and non-stressful) opportunities to meet, eat, drink, write and flaneur around Berlin together.
If you don’t know anyone coming, please don’t worry. We are a friendly group of writers, many of whom have never met or only met once. We want to meet you!
Become a Supporter of EWS
EWS is dedicated to creating opportunities for writers to meet, learn and develop their writing and writing life.
The more people can attend, the more interesting and varied our events will be, creating greater opportunity to connect and learn from each other. We are working hard to make EWS sustainable and available to as many writers as possible.
To that end, we are inviting subscribers to become a Supporter of European Writers Salon and help us in our mission to connect writers in Europe. We will send out information later this week about the perks and benefits of being a Supporter.
We promise our newsletter will always be free—member perks will be entirely separate. If you’re not able to support us financially, we still feel so lucky to have you as a member of our community.
Interested in organising an EWS event in your city?
One way we hope to support more writers is by creating grassroots networks and events.
If you’re interested in organising an EWS event in your city, we have created a set of guidelines and an application process. Please get in touch if this is something you’d like to do!
Other happenings in Europe
Amsterdam
Amsterdam Writing Workshops have courses online and in person in January and throughout the year.
Berlin
Berlin Writers Workshop and The Reader both have courses starting in January and February.
London
Bard Books on Roman Road has a monthly debut authors evening for just £5. In January, you can hear Fitzcarraldo debut author Oluwaseun Olayiwola.
Book Blast Translation Book Club takes place on the 2nd Monday of every month at Hatchards. On Monday 13th they’ll be reading Record of a Night Too Brief.
Madrid
On Jan 17th, Desperate Literature is holding a bilingual reading from Boysluts (Putitos) by Ángel Borreguero, a prose poetry collection that celebrates the obsessive cataloguing of lovers, one-night stands and other various objects of lust, seamlessly going from scatological detail to highbrow literary references. For fans of lyrical filth in the vein of Jean Genet or Rodrigo García Marina.
Paris
Paris Lit Up Magazine Launch is on 8 February at Galerie Echomusee. They also host regular open mic nights.
We also hope to host a Paris event in springtime. If you’d like to be involved in planning this, please get in touch.
Submissions
Call for poetry submissions to Glow: City at Night Poems anthology from Broken Spine open until end of January. They are seeking vibrant and varied narratives that unfold in the urban twilight. The collection will illuminate the diverse experiences and emotions of city life after dark, exploring themes of loneliness, transformation, and the intertwining of nature with the urban environment, all set against the backdrop of silence and sound.
Prototype is open for submissions to their next anthology until 1 February. Poetry, prose, visual work and everything in between.
Gone Lawn is open for submissions of fiction, prose and prose poetry. Desired: magical and shiny things, and unusual and/or innovative works that displace us charmingly, that baffle the fence-setters of our verdant lands and whisk away all of their dreary tools.
New literary journal Frazzled Lit is open for your submissions from 21 to 31 January.
Competitions
Geneva Writers Competition is open until end of January—fiction, non-fiction and poetry. They also have a range of events running throughout the year.
Bath Flash Fiction Award is open until 2 February 2025. Entries up to 300 words.
Bournemouth Writing Prize is open until 15 January. Short stories up to 3000 words, poems 30 lines maximum.
Bristol Short Story Prize is open until end January 2025. Entries up to 4000 words.
Edinburgh Short Story Award is open until February 2025. Entries up to 2000 words.
Good luck submitting!
Residencies & retreats
Amsterdam
Fahmidan are hosting an Amsterdam Retreat—a unique literary getaway where creativity and culture converge in one of Europe's most inspiring cities. From 27 July to 3 August, immerse yourself in workshops, excursions and an enriching literary experience like no other! With three different packages ranging from Bare Bones to the Full Experience, Fahmidan want to make this retreat accessible to all! Details here.
Maastricht
Jan Van Eyck residency in Maastricht is open for applications until 27 January 2025. Participants receive both housing and a stipend for 11 months. Application fees apply.
Stratford-upon-Avon and Clifford Chambers
Hosking Houses Trust in the UK offers residencies for women over 40 with a need for support. The need might be financial, personal, domestic, medical and/or for time, peace, quiet and a break from normal routine or disruption to concentrate on creativity. They also offer bursaries. Those from outside the UK can apply if they have a reason to visit.
Paris
Cite des arts Paris is open for applications for residencies from 2-12 months until 26 January 2025. Apply here.
EWS listings
Online Short Story Course. Award-winning author and EWS organiser Tom Vowler is running his popular online short story course, starting on 27 January for 6 weeks. Many participants have published pieces written on the course. You can read about their experiences and find out more here. Supporters of EWS are entitled to a 10% discount when booking.
Writing Tuition. EWS organiser Mark Bowles will be offering creative writing tuition and mentoring throughout 2025. Mark is the author of Goldsmiths Prize-nominated novel All My Precious Madness, and How Do People Stay the Same (forthcoming from Galley Beggar Press). His website will be up and running soon, but in the meantime please contact Mark at bowles.mark@gmail.com for initial enquiries. Supporters of EWS are entitled to a 5% discount when booking.
Room to rent for a writing retreat in Berlin. Fancy a writing retreat in Berlin? We (a married writer couple involved with EWS) have a spacious and airy 23-square-metre (247-square-feet) room with private balcony in our beautiful turn-of-the century flat available to rent to writers. You would have access to your own bathroom, and you’d be welcome to use the shared kitchen. Meals can be provided if desired. The room has a double bed, a desk, and space for clothes and books. The retreat could be self-guided or structured as you prefer. We would be delighted to organise writing and feedback sessions with you, and give you tips for exploring Berlin’s lively literary scene. See here for photographs, more details and availability—please feel free to reach out if the dates you want aren’t listed. Please contact berlinwritersretreat@gmail.com for more information; we’ll give you a discount compared with the Airbnb price if you book directly. Supporters of EWS are entitled to a 10% discount when booking. Looking forward to welcoming you to Berlin!
Italian Summer Writing Retreats. Writer and EWS organiser Catherine McNamara runs summer writing retreats at her farmhouse in Veneto, Italy. Solo retreats go from Sunday-Friday, May to September, including on-site food & transfer. Free-time options include hiking, day/afternoon trips to nearby Venice, Vicenza or Padua, or Petrarch's village in the Euganei Hills. Mentoring and critiquing available. 5% discount for EWS supporters. Venice studio also available to writers for short stays. Contact via the website.
EWS has already exceeded what we could have imagined—we’re so excited to see what happens next and hope you will join us!
Warmly,
All of the EWS Team