Literary circle

A literary circle or coterie, according to The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, is a "small group of writers (and others) bound together more by friendship and habitual association than by a common literary cause or style that might unite a school or movement. The term often has pejorative connotations of exclusive cliquishness".

A literary circle differs from a writing circle, in that the latter usually includes only writers and the focus is on the process of writing. A literary circle also differs from a literary society, in that the latter need not contain any writers; members of a literary society come together to discuss or celebrate literary works or authors.

Famous or noteworthy examples include:

Wilton Circle, UK, 16th-century group centred on Mary Sidney
The Muiderkring, Netherlands, early 17th century
Streatham Worthies, UK, late 18th century
Literary Salon, Argentina, 1830s, which included the President of Argentina, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Juan Bautista Alberdi, the main thinker behind the Constitution of Argentina
Wuppertal poets' circle, Germany, 1850s
Marston's coterie, UK, 1880s
The Bloomsbury Group, UK, c. 1907 to 1930
The Mutual Admiration Society, UK, 1910s
Whitechapel Boys, UK, early 20th century
Algonquin Roundtable, USA, 1919–1929
Florida Group, Argentina, 1920s, which included Jorge Luis Borges
Boedo Group, Argentina, 1920s
Stratford-on-Odéon, France, 1920s
El Floridita literary circle, Cuba, 1920s, which included Ernest Hemingway
The Harlem Renaissance, USA, 1920s and 1930s
The Inklings, UK, c. 1930s and 1940s
South Side Writers Group, USA, 1930s and 1940s
Budh Sabha, India, 1932–present
Misty poets, China, 1970s to 1990s