By V. Conejero
In early 2012, I felt the need to organize a writers critique group. A late-blooming writer, I had been a member of a local group which was falling apart. Not finding any other writers groups in the New York City area which were active and met my needs, I decided to create my own.
Thanks to the power of social media, the task was very easy to accomplish. Notices on NYU Alumni LinkedIn groups quickly generated a 70-plus list of interested participants and a lively discussion about potential meeting places and times. The respondents manifested a marked preference for a Sunday evening meeting and thus the NYU-Village Writers Group (NYUVW) held its initial session on Sunday, March 25, 2012, at The Open Center, in Mid-Manhattan.
Since the venue was not free and we wished to meet in the Greenwich Village/New York University neighborhoods, one of our charter members suggested, and negotiated for us, what came to be our present and ideal location—the lovely and historical Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL). Adapting ourselves to our new venue’s schedule, we shifted the literary gatherings to weekday evenings: During that spring and summer, we met on Monday evenings. In the fall of 2012, we permanently settled on Wednesdays at 5:30pm.
For nearly four years, the NYUVW has welcomed a large and varied number of creative individuals at all levels of literary development and from diverse professional backgrounds, whether educated at New York University or elsewhere.
The group’s literary interests encompass all fiction and non-fiction genres. Its activities now include an annual series of Public Reading Events at the NYPL and a literary magazine, The Greenwich Village Literary Review (TGVLR), both inaugurated in 2014.
To date, we have successfully presented four public readings at “our” library. There, many NYUVW members and magazine authors have enjoyed reading their prose and poetry to warm, receptive audiences. Later this year, we will schedule one more public reading in which regular and new NYUVW members and TGVLR published authors can participate.
Our online publication, TGVLR, has become tremendously popular among both aspiring writers and well-published authors, at home and abroad. In the pages of our three online issues, we have offered our international readership the work of many gifted writers of fiction, poetry, and various types of non-fiction; our magazine has also been graced by lovely artwork and photographs.
The Greenwich Village Literary Review’s Fall 2015 issue has been unduly delayed by unforeseen circumstances, but it will come out in March. The Spring 2016 edition is being prepared as well and is scheduled for publication in June. Both editions are crammed with fascinating stories and personal memoirs, lyrical poetry, and gorgeous art.
Participation in all activities associated with the NYUVW and TGVLR is free. Additionally, volunteer editors for our magazine are always welcome.
Cuban-born V. Conejero is a professional orchestra conductor and a late-blooming writer. She is the founder and director of The NYU-Village Writers Group (http://www.NYUVillageWriters.webs.com/) and The Greenwich Village Literary Review
