Authors' Club

Founded by the novelist and critic Walter Besant in 1891 as a place where writers could meet and talk, the Authors’ Club also welcomes publishers, editors, agents, journalists, academics and anyone professionally involved with literature. Early members included Oscar Wilde, George Meredith, Thomas Hardy, Arthur Conan Doyle, JM Barrie, Jerome K Jerome, Ford Madox Ford, HG Wells, Compton Mackenzie, Thornton Wilder and Graham Greene, while guest speakers included Emile Zola, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Winston Churchill, Bram Stoker, TS Eliot and Clement Attlee. The Authors’ Club awards three annual literary prizes: the Best First Novel Award, the Dolman Best Travel Book Award, and the Art Book Prize for the best book on art or architecture. For further information, please contact the Authors’ Club on info@authorsclub.co.uk