Five years ago, in the last stretch of a summer term not unlike this one, a small group of international academics decided that writing did not have to be a solitary affair. We were exhausted — juggling teaching, administrivia, and writing deadlines in the middle of the pandemic. It turned out that we also needed exactly this kind of community framework. We were inspired by and are loosely related to the @London Writers Salon.
What started as a gamification strategy has become a streak — and more than that: a source of motivation, inspiration, and the kind of mutual reinforcement that keeps the writing going when everything else conspires against it.
We are celebrating the diversity and perseverance of the friends who sat at these (virtual) tables: from Toronto, Boston, Tel Aviv, Münster, Poznań, Bonn, Lund, Germersheim, and Tübingen. Here is still hoping they may all find their way back one day.
Today is the fifth anniversary of our writers’ group — and after the recent heatwave, perhaps it is time for a reunion retreat.
#AcademicWriting #WritingGroup #AcademicLife #WritingCommunity #LondonWritersSalon
Originally posted on Mastodon, Bluesky, and LinkedIn, June 29, 2026.