On Saturday 2 December, Margaret McCaffrey hosted a small literary gathering at her home – she’d invited fellow Elwood Writers Helen McDonald and Barry Lee Thompson to join her, and to read short pieces of their work. Margaret wanted to dedicate the afternoon’s event to Elwood Writers co-founder Jennifer Bryce, who died earlier this year.

Mindful of the health and safety of her guests, Margaret kept the numbers low (and the windows open) – the event was lively and entertaining, and copies of the new edition of 20 Artists, featuring all three members of Elwood Writers, were available, hot off the press, having only been released the day before.

The readings included poetry and haiku from Helen, short fiction from Barry, and memoir from Margaret herself. Tony Thomas was invited to read from Jennifer’s body of work, and he presented a short piece from her trove of oboe-themed stories, as well as an extract from Lily Campbell’s Secret, Jenny’s debut novel. The only thing missing was Jenny, but it felt as if she were there, watching, smiling; at times, if you listened carefully, you’d swear you could hear the sounds of her beloved oboe …

At this week’s Elwood Writers meeting, the final of 2023, it was agreed that the event had been a success, and more importantly had rounded off the year in a hugely positive way. Thank you to Margaret for asking us along, and for inviting us to read from our individual work. It was clear that a lot of thought and preparation went in to the very elegant afternoon – it shone through and was much appreciated.

It’s given us a taste for public readings again, and we discussed how we might take that forward. The last Elwood Writers public soiree was held at St Kilda Library on 25 August 2018, over five years ago. Where does the time go! Perhaps it’s time to start thinking about another event in the not-too-distant future. Anyway, we’re sure to return to this topic when we reconvene in February for our first meeting of 2024.

The holidays might have begun for Elwood Writers, but this isn’t our last blog post of the year. There are one or two more to follow before 2023 is out.

For now, have a peaceful weekend.

EW