Salim Al Tuwaiya
Are groups, federations, associations or links good for writers?
There are a lot of writers belonging to groups and others not; is there any difference between the two in terms of production, publishing and creating new ideas?
No doubt that the answer depends on the writer himself/herself. What is suitable for one writer might not be for another. After all, conditions and opinions of writer play a major role in his/her affiliation or non-affiliation to any group. Experiences in this sphere are varying from writer to writer so results are varying accordingly.
Of course, there are too many writers groups, for every type of writing, there are groups that have specific headquarters, and others have no headquarters, so their members meet in public libraries or cafes, and other online groups members communicate only electronically. There are specialized associations, in general, women, journalists, writers of fiction, writers of children literature, crimes, poetry, novels, and academics and so on.
Writers Groups have played a great role in highlighting the efforts of great writers. In modern history there are examples of them, The Pen Leagu, , which brought together a number of great Arab poets, and one of its most famous members is Khalil Gibran. It was founded in America in 1915. Bloomsbury Group is another example, which was Virginia Woolf one of the most of its prominent members. In this context, we must mention the global role played by the striking pen Association International,
which originated in 1920 in London to include writers of literature in particular, and then turned to include all of the writers. The association adopts today the issues of the writers around the world, defends them, and its voice is known to everyone. It has centres in more than 100 countries, including Australia, where events are hosted by different writers around the world and supported in ways that are both moral and material.
Nevertheless, roles, trends, beliefs, circumstances and objectives vary. The question imposes itself again, goes further than it seems on the surface: What is the feasibility of belonging to the group of writers?