So you want to start a book club...
Everything you need to know about starting a DWBC chapter.
New year, new book club.
If you’re reading this, it means you are ready to launch a Difficult Women Book Club in your city and, let me tell you - it is very exciting. I’m truly inspired by all the amazing people who feel moved by this project and want to bring it to their own communities. Thank you so much for being part of this journey!
As of March 2025, the book club will be two years old, which is quite a huge milestone if I do say so myself. For this reason, we have taken a little bit of time to restructure the community, to make things easier for us, and, hopefully, for you. So thank you for your patience during this transitioning time.
So what is Difficult Women Book Club?
DWBC is an English book club that was started in 2023 in Barcelona by me, Linda. As I was new to the city, I wanted a place to get to know more like-minded people and talk about life and books. I met some of my closest friends in the city through the book club, so I would say it worked!
We only read books by female and non-binary authors. It started as a New Year’s resolution of mine, and it stuck as the book club theme.
After a TikTok of our meeting went viral, the book club grew to become a global community. Now there are DWBC chapters in over 30 cities around the world, and we all read the same book at the same time, creating this amazing community of wonderful readers.
Why Difficult Women Book Club? When I started the book club, I was reading Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino, which includes an essay called The Cult of the Difficult Woman. It stuck with me as a beautiful and nuanced piece of writing and felt like an appropriate reminder for a book club focusing on female authors. Plus, let’s just say it, it sounded cool.
Here’s everything you need to know:
How does it work?
The most important thing to keep in mind is that we all read the same book at the same time, which means you won’t be able to individually choose the book of the month. Each month, each chapter votes for their favorite book, and the book that gets the most votes becomes the book of the month. Please keep this in mind!
We expect you to organize monthly in-person meetings in your city. Of course, the book club is a hobby and should be fun, and you are always welcome to take a couple months off if needed, but please keep in mind that the spirit of DWBC is to create in-person communities that meet regularly. Take some time to consider whether that’s something that will be possible with your schedule.
So how do I join?
If you have already taken part in a DWBC meeting, please email me here.
If you have not, we ask you to please read this month’s book and join our monthly online meeting to discuss the book. This will give you and idea of how a book club meeting works before you commit to managing your own book club. (If you can’t find the online meeting, please DM me on Instagram (@difficultwomenbookclub))
After the online meeting, please email me here and we can get started!
So here it is! If you have any questions, feel free to share them in the comments and I’ll get back to you ASAP.
I’m so excited to start this journey with you!
Linda