RIRW exists to promote excellence in women’s and popular fiction, to help writers become published and build careers in their writing field, and to provide continuing support for writers within the women’s and popular fiction publishing industry. Formed in 1983 as a Romance Writers of America chapter, we disaffiliated in 1988. We are an independent, nonprofit organization in Rhode Island.

If you are serious about writing popular fiction, we invite you to join us! Click here to see membership benefits.

We welcome everyone, without regard to race, color, national origin, disability, religion, cultural identity, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical appearance, or any other identity distinction. Furthermore, we recognize that because racism, homophobia, and other forms of bias are systemic in our national culture, people from marginalized communities continue to be denied advancement in our industry. RIRW strives to address this by raising awareness within our membership and increasing our efforts to attract members from a variety of backgrounds to enrich our community of writers.

We meet from September to June on the first Saturday of the month (except for February, when we hold our annual retreat). Because of holidays and/or other conflicts, the date or venue may change (scroll down to see list of dates). We will announce changes here on our home page. We do meetings via ZOOM.

Check us out on our public Facebook page (click here!)

Feb. 6-7 RIRW RETREAT Sign-up (via ZOOM ) NOW OPEN FOR ALL, members and non-members! Click on this LINK for more info and to sign up.

March 7, 2026 — Moniquill Blackgoose

Workshop: Details TBA

Note: We welcome Visitors for up to two regular meetings before you need to join. If you want to check us out, please send us a message by NOON on Friday (day before meeting) and we’ll send you a ZOOM link. Come join your fellow writers for a free-ranging discussion!

For regular meetings, we gather to chat at noon; Meeting starts at 12:30, with workshops starting about 1:15/1:30

Fall Schedule, 2025:

September 6 – Kimberly Kessler

October 4 – Kristina Stanley

November 1 – Daniel David Wallace: POV Shift Execution

December 6 – Rebekah Manley: DIY Publicity

Winter/Spring Schedule 2026:

January 3 – Roundtable

February 6-7 – TBA(Retreat, separate registration)

March 7 – Moniquill Blackgoose: Interview

April 11 – Rebekah Manley: “Mentor-shipping”: Work with an intern

May 2 – Julie Duffy

June 6 – Roundtable