Congratulations to the Silent Book Club organization – a worldwide bookish phenomenon that means so much to readers here in east end Toronto – on hitting the impressive milestone of 500 chapters! Here’s the announcement.

Our chapter’s first meeting with 4 attendees was in 2017 (yes, it’s our 6th anniversary!) At that time, I think there were around 50-60 chapters worldwide.

In 2019, our Toronto chapter teamed up with Silent Book Club co-founder Guinevere de la Mare to do a bunch of CBC Radio interviews extolling the virtues of this approach to book clubs and reading. At that time, I believe we were telling interviewers that there were around 75 SBC chapters worldwide.

Our Silent Book Club group has gathered in local parks …

… gathered virtually during the pandemic, and kept up the zoom format for flexibility, convenience and because new members joined our group from around the world. (As Kathyrn Eastman will confirm, the eastern edge of Toronto now extends all the way to Wales!)

Our Silent Book Club group continues to meet for special bookish experiences, including our wonderful visits to Great Escape Bookstore.

500 chapters worldwide, all gathering in different ways, numbers of readers and settings, means that more and more readers are enjoying a kind of bookish fellowship that has come to mean a lot to many of us!