In the Beginning . . .
The San Joaquin Writers owes its origins to the efforts of two writing teachers, Scott Evans (University of the Pacific) and June Gillam (San Joaquin Delta College). When June was teaching Creative Writing at Delta, students enrolled in two semesters of writing short pieces. At the end of each term, she and the students created a print book of their fiction and non-fiction essays and memoirs. But they discovered that once done, there was little in the way of support for creative writers in the San Joaquin Valley region. June joined forces with Scott and in 2015 they launched this branch of the California Writers Club. In those early days, all sessions and meetings were in person at UOP. However, the pandemic shifted their activities to Zoom, which allowed them to reach even more people. Now, the SJVW proudly hosts some sessions and meetings in person and others on Zoom—and in some cases, both at the same time. We hope to see you at our events!