Spotlight: Silent Book Club Manila Meets Melbourne

During a recent work trip to Manila, I had the fortunate privilege to connect with the Silent Book Club Manila Chapter, part of a personal goal to visit local SBC Chapters whenever I travel. Thanks to Laura and Guinevere’s ongoing work to map Chapters around the world, I was able to find the Manila Chapter and reached out to see if I could join a meetup while in town.

In true Silent Book Club spirit - generous, welcoming, and quietly passionate - the Chapter organized a special gathering during my visit. It was a joyful reminder of why I love this global, kind-hearted, book-loving community.

We shared stories, ideas, challenges, and passions over delicious Pinoy food. The connection was grounded in generosity, curiosity, and our shared love of reading and building community.

The Manila Chapter shared their recent collaboration with global clothing brand Uniqlo, their dedicated member base, and the thoughtful distributed leadership model they have set up. I spoke about the growth of our Melbourne community, now outgrowing local venues, and the ongoing need for volunteers to support our events. The Manila Chapter’s experiences gave me fresh ideas and insights to bring back to Melbourne Chapter. And, as always with Silent Book Club meetups, the conversation flowed easily - even among us self-proclaimed introverts.

I was genuinely touched by the thoughtful gifts: a book by a local author, handmade Silent Book Club keyrings, bookmarks, and stickers. It was a beautiful expression of the care, creativity, and generosity that defines this community. A shared passion for reading became a bridge between strangers, now new friends.

From Gerard, Silent Book Club Manila: An Unforgettable Connection

The sunrise was just starting to filter into my room in Pasay City, Metro Manila. I was still shaking off sleep, just about to swing my legs out of bed and officially start my day, when I instinctively reached for my phone. As I scrolled through Silent Book Club Manila’s Instagram messages, a notification stopped me cold. My heart gave a little jolt. "I'll be in Manila and would love to join your meetups," the message read from Skye, the organizer of Silent Book Club Melbourne.

Without a moment's hesitation, I immediately shared this incredible news with our Silent Book Club Manila ambassadors—a colloquial name we call a group of people who were once chosen by SBC Manila founder Janelle to promote and represent SBC Manila on Instagram. They have since served as pillars of support, helping the moderators decide what's best for our community and stepping up in times of need. 

The excitement was palpable among the moderators and ambassadors. To be honest, we didn’t have anything planned at all that weekend (we had just finished all our scheduled meetups in June). But we really wanted to meet Skye so we whipped up a small gathering. And although only four of us from SBC Manila got to go, the others sent stickers, beautifully designed bookmarks, and unique keychains as souvenirs for our guest.

Eager to give Skye a taste of authentic Filipino food, we met up with her at a local restaurant called Manam. We enthusiastically spoke of our experiences in hosting our respective chapters over pancit (stir-fried noodles), kare-kare (oxtail and beef stew), gising-gising (spicy winged beans in coconut milk), calamares (deep fried squid rings), and kanin (rice).

Hosting a Silent Book Club, while enjoyable, does not come without challenges. For the Manila chapter, indoor venues constrain us to limit meetup attendees as there are only a few accessible reading-friendly public spaces locally. Skye in Melbourne, on the other hand, needs more volunteers to help organize meetups and a new and free online platform for more or less 2,000 members. It seemed that what one lacked, the other had, so we traded stories to help each other out!

Every word exchanged felt valuable, every shared anecdote a new lesson. We learned so much from each other, realizing that despite the distance, our passion for creating a space for readers connects us deeply. By the end of lunch, we’ve all come to realize that when you love doing something, such as organizing your local SBC chapter, you won't notice the amount of effort you put in. Getting help from trusted members with the same vision and who understand the goals of Silent Book Club really goes a long way!

It was an honor to be a part of Skye's first visit to Manila, and we're already counting down the days until she visits again, and hopefully we could invite her to one of our reading sessions. This experience has truly ignited a new spark within us. We're more inspired than ever to connect readers here in the Philippines and eagerly anticipate the possibility of meeting more international Silent Book Club chapters in the future. It was an absolutely unforgettable moment for Silent Book Club Manila!