You may be a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London– but did you know that the Society is itself a member of the Alliance of Literary Societies?

The Alliance of Literary Societies is the umbrella organisation for literary societies and groups in the UK. It was formed in 1973 and currently has around 125 members. The president is Claire Harman.

The ALS provides support and advice on a variety of literary subjects, as well as promoting cooperation between member societies. Each year it has a weekend event hosted by a different member society.

The Spring issue of the ALS Newsletter is out now.
Besides a very favourable report by Linda J Curry, Chair of the ALS: “The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, in Lockdown – a member’s perspective”, it features:

1. A tribute to Julie Shorland, Treasurer and Membership Secretary, who died on the 25th January
2. The Alliance’s AGM will be held via Zoom on the 22nd May (Arthur Conan Doyle’s 162nd birthday…)
3. “Literary Highflyers of Highgate” – The Hopkins Society and The Betjeman Society will jointly host a weekend of  events for the ALS, on the 1st-3rd October. (“Gerard Manley Hopkins and John Betjeman? Don’t they sound like poetry’s Odd Couple?”)
4. The story of the Arthur Ransome Society’s Library
5. “Tweeting for Arnold B” – The Arnold Bennetty Society’s adventures on Twitter (“Prolific tweeters such as Sathnam Sanghera, Samira Ahmed and Gyles Brandreth will on occasion, unbidden, praise Arnold Bennett – which is nice. But it can be annoying when people on Twitter confuse our author with Alan Bennett …”)
6. “Child safeguarding and literary societies”
7. “A lesson in creating learning resources” – The the development of the Betjeman Society’s online learning resources from the original spark of the idea to the present issue of obtaining useful feedback to determine whether to expand the content in future

And you can read or download it here:  https://allianceofliterarysocieties.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/als-spring-newsletter.pdf

We’re in distinguished company in the Alliance, alongside the likes of the Jerome K Jerome Society, the Robert Louis Stevenson Club, the Oscar Wilde Society, the J.M. Barrie Literary Society, the Kipling Society, the Dickens Fellowship, the Lewis Carroll Society, the Wilkie Collins Society, the Dracula Society, the John Buchan Society, the P.G. Wodehouse Society – and the Royal Society of Literature!

You’ll find the ALS website at https://allianceofliterarysocieties.wordpress.com/