A Silent Bookclub in Brighton & Hove 🔖⛱️
and a mini guide on how to start your own
Friends,
It’s been 18 months since I left London and yet I’m still consistently amazed at how organically connections are made in a seaside town vs a big city - unexpected and beautiful. A few months ago, after a yoga class at my favourite Hove studio, I bumped into a lady carrying books on her way in. Our special conversation and the random Substack note I posted immediately afterwards went viral. The responses were incredible!
People commented from all over the world and a few general themes emerged. The pandemic seems to have left a lingering effect – a yearning for connection. We're craving quality time away from our phones and a sense of belonging to a community. (Also, and unsurprisingly, we want silence!)
“Is this not what we did in “quiet reading time” at school? 😂 Bring it back!! We all clearly under appreciated those moments back then 🥹” - Jess
“That's genius. Add cake and it’s heaven. Maybe pets too. No kids unless they're baby goats.” - Paul
“Sometimes the Internet is scary and disturbing. And sometimes it's utterly wonderful!” - Esther
I had bumped into Toni, who is the founder of The Social Society and in her spare time, host of the Hove branch of The Silent Bookclub. Book clubbers meet on the first Thursday of every month, with a book or books of their choice, phones are turned off, a comfy spot is found and then everyone settles in for an hour and a half of silent reading. There’s a break after an hour for tea and biscuits (because 🇬🇧) and then back to reading for another 30mins. If you’re feeling social afterwards you are welcome to stay but equally welcome to head straight home to bed. I personally have not read a book without my phone nearby in forever so I struggled to settle and focus for at least the first 20mins. It felt a little like this 😆.
If you live in and around Brighton & Hove come read silently with us 🔖
📍 Flow State Yoga Studio | 48 Brunswick Street West Brighton and Hove BN3 1EL
A Mini Guide on How to Start Your Own Silent Bookclub
Check if there is a silent bookclub chapter meeting in your area here1. These bookclubs have become incredibly popular since the pandemic so you may find that you already have one nearby. The general rule is one silent bookclub per city2.
If there’s none available you can apply to start one here. There’s general dos and dont’s around setup:
To be added to the Silent Bookclub network and published on the website, your chapter must include "Silent Book Club" in its name.
When you register your club, you'll need to provide a public link where members can find event details. This can be a social media page (Facebook page, group, Instagram), an event site (Bookclubs.com, Eventbrite), or a blog or website. Attendees should easily be able to find your events and see information about your chapter.
Decide on the location for your first event. Each SBC chapter is unique to its community: some meet in bars or coffee shops, others in bookstores, libraries, or outdoors in a park—weather permitting. Set the date and time, and invite a few friends! You must have at least one event posted before submitting your location to our website so that we can confirm your location.
Submit your location on the website to have your new chapter added to the SBC map.
Decide the small details on how you’d like your bookclub events to run — Toni likes to play a calming playlist in the background as we read, kindles are welcome too, everyone chooses their own book or books to read and the price of your ticket goes towards the tea and biscuit costs. We meet in a yoga studio because it’s peaceful & quiet and filled with bolsters and blankets, you may choose a different space to host events.
“Sometimes you want to be in the presence of others but not necessarily ‘engage’.” - Toni, The Silent Bookclub Hove
Happy silent reading!
Nicole
xo
PS: A silent bookclub playlist by Toni Finnimore.
If you’d like to set up your own club but want more freedom around how to run that, you can call it another name (not Silent Book Club) for example ‘Quiet Reading’.
Thank you for talking about this! I’ve just joined the London one 😊
Oh I'm so happy to find this post!! I saw your original note but then it fell down the scroll on my phone and when I went to find it again I couldn't resurface it despite many different attempts at searching (I even did my own note asking if anyone else had seen it 😄) I'm over in Kemptown so possibly the Brighton one is closer to me than the one over in Hove (though can't tell for sure if it's still going from their socials). I don't know how easily I'd be able to convince my other half to keep the kids occupied while I swan off out of the house to for an hour and a half of silent book reading (could try to pitch it as an investment in my patience and overall togetherness as a parent?!) But the concept has my 100% approval - what a fantastic idea!