Jane Austen Book Club: Started by a 16-year-old in 2012, this book club, as the name suggests, aims to study and appreciate Jane Austen’s works and her writing style. It brings together Janeites from across the city to read, re-read, discuss, share, and revel in her books. It also conducts creative writing contests, events, workshops, and meets across Mumbai. They have recently made a Google Group to actively share job opportunities related to writing and reading.
Fun Fact: The club held its first meeting on Jane Austen’s 237th birthday on December 16, 2012.
Caferati: What started as a literary blog in 2004 by three friends, it soon branched out to become a book club thanks to social media. Caferati is one of the oldest and active book clubs in Mumbai. Currently, it is also a writer’s forum to support and encourage writing. This book club expands to cities like Delhi and Bangalore.
Broke Bibliophiles: This community is a nationwide book club. During their monthly meets, members discuss books they have been reading as opposed to members discuss their take on a single book, which happens in some book clubs. They also recommend books and discuss at length the movie adaptations (if any) of the same. You can also reach out to them if you need assistance with buying or selling books or even promoting them. You can find the club on Facebook and Instagram.
Bombay Book Club: They are as fun and relaxed as a book club can get. Their monthly meetings include book reading, recommendation sessions, discussions, and book exchanges. Many budding authors and poets are a part of the club.
Bookelphia: It’s more of a crowdsourced library than a book club, but it is still a book-loving community at the core. Here, a network of bibliophiles lend and borrow books from each other. The key factor here is you can request books that are shared by members within the network. It’s a great community because you get to showcase your collection of books, maintain your bookshelf and share it with readers.
Chennai Tamil Book Readers/Writers Meetup: A one of its kind meetup group in Chennai, this caters to people who are interested in reading/writing Tamil books, novels, poems, or any form of writing in the language. A one-of-its-kind meetup group, it also encourages people to take up Tamil writing and reading. It is the place to go in case you want to start learning this regional language.
The PEN: Also known as the International Association of Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists & Novelists, the PEN has its Indian chapter in Mumbai. It is one of the oldest and most famous literary clubs in the world.
One can either be an associate member or a full member of the PEN; while there are no specific qualifications needed to be an associate member, to be a full member, you need to have at least two published works in your name. The group meets once a month at Theosophy Hall, Mumbai. They charge $25 fees for the reader’s circles.
Fun Fact: Currently, they have three circles within the PEN: the readers’ circle, the writer’s circle, and the publisher’s circle.
