Jack London —
And his friends, who met often to exchange ideas and opinions on each other’s work. These meetings led to the founding of the California Writers Club across the Bay in Berkeley in 1909.
Today we’re one of the oldest writer’s organizations in the nation, with 22 chapters all over California. Explore the statewide CWC organization website to discover the many benefits of belonging to the larger group.
No branch other than the “parent” Berkeley club can claim a close relationship with Jack London (1876-1916), who is said to have been one of the early members of the California Writers Club. However, the San Francisco Peninsula branch has a special connection with this accomplished author.
Read on . . .
Our Club’s History Begins With…
“I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.“
Jack London
Celebrating 60 Years of “Writers Helping Writers”
The History and Accomplishments of the San Francisco Peninsula Branch of the California Writers Club
By Elise Frances Miller and Carole Bumpus, 2025
As we mark our 60th year, the SF Peninsula branch of the California Writers’ Club celebrates its history of accomplishments, friendships, and strengths as we welcome our future. Through this history, we invoke the spirit of the hundreds of writers inspired and transformed by our club as they reach toward their goals and dreams. We live in a time of unprecedented change in writing, publishing and marketing our work, with much more expected in the future. Learning about our 60 year journey, which includes our up-to-the-moment living history, teaches us how circumstances for writers have never been static, but how the writers of the CWC have smoothed and paved the way.
Louise Boggess
President Geri Spieler and Treasurer Alisha Willis welcoming all to the 2021 Holiday Party at the Sequoia Yacht Club.
At the 2019 Holiday party, Mindy Yang continues our tradition of launching the publication of the Fault Zone anthology.
Annual Picnic, July 2021 at Laurelwood Park, San Mateo.
Laurel Anne Hill, 2020, edited 3 issues of the branch anthology, culminating in the selection of Fault Zone: Reverse as winner of an international competition.
Fault Zone readings are presented at bookstores and other venues on the Peninsula, as well as at branch holiday parties. In 2022 and 2024, Fault Zone was honored to win a national competition, Independent Press Award in the anthology category. Fault Zone: Reverse was also a finalist in the "National Indie Excellence Award." All books are available on Amazon.
San Francisco Writers Conference. Along with other CWC branches, ours participates each year. Here in 2016, with past presidents (l to r) Carole Bumpus, Audrey Kalman, and Lisa Meltzer-Penn.