LAKE COUNTY – Lake County Poet Laureate Mary McMillan, with the support of the Lake County Arts Council, has been awarded a third grant to fund her work as leader of the Writers Circle.

The Writers Circle will be supported by Poets and Writers Inc., through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.

The new grant funds the Circle beginning in December, and lasts for five months.

The Writers Circle is a public writing workshop held at the Main Street Gallery at 6:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month.

Traditionally, the current Poet Laureate leads the group, stimulating constructive feedback.

This year, the group has attracted many new writers. Some people come only a few times, and others show up every month. Many have been sharing parts of books and other long works they've been writing; others write short stories, essays or poems.

The writers are between 16 and 80 years old, and come from all over the county.