The following press release was sent to local press agencies on July 9, 2025.
Detroit Working Writers is celebrating 125 years of supporting Michigan writers.
On June 5, 1900, a group of women writers formed the Detroit Women’s Press Club to support professional and aspiring female writers while traveling home from a National Women’s Press Club outing aboard the famed Detroit steamer Tashmoo.
Later called Detroit Women Writers—then Detroit Working Writers as it opened membership to all published Michigan writers—DWW’s goals are much the same today: encouraging excellence in the writing community and supporting one another.
Past president and award-winning poet and novelist Kathleen Ripley Leo knows the importance of peers. She explains, “For 125 years, DWW has been a tremendous source of support and advancement for members, such as novelist Joyce Carol Oates and Detroit Poet Laureate Naomi Long Madgett. DWW’s professional writers support each other and share a love of the written word.”
Member Phyllis Green, author of seventeen books and countless articles for young people, remembers DWW as an all-women’s organization in the 1970s, “My first friend was Elsie Price, who wrote very humorous articles for the Detroit Sunday newspaper. Elsie, Marjory Jackson Levin, and I organized one of the large DWW conferences at Oakland University that drew many would-be writers and a nationally famous author.”
Her well-wishes for her DWW colleagues as they plan a fall anniversary celebration embodies the spirit of Detroit Working Writers to embrace the past and look to the future: “I am 93. Never stop writing! Never stop doing art or anything that makes you happy. Be kind to your fellow writers. I hope you all get published.”
Whether you’re a reader looking to discover local authors or a writer considering application for membership, Detroit Working Writers invites you to explore our growing community and learn more about the writers who have shaped Michigan’s literary tradition for over a century at DetWorkingwriters.org.