“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”― Mahatma Gandhi
Artwork by Micah Player
We founded Silent Book Club in 2012 to create a space for readers to connect with each other through a shared love of books. We did not set out to be a political group, but as Roxane Gay powerfully declared, "today, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future, everything we do is political—as readers, as writers, as booksellers, as people."
More than ever, we believe in creating safe spaces for people to take refuge in books. All are welcome at Silent Book Club, and we do not discriminate based on politics, religion, gender, race, sexuality, or belief system. Our community guidelines are very clear: we do not tolerate hate.
We will stand up to people who ban books. We will fight for equal rights. We will defend our freedom to read, to love, to marry, to vote, to exist. We will use our power and our privilege and the platform we have built to speak out for what we believe in. We will not be silent.
Guinevere de la Mare & Laura Gluhanich
Co-founders, Silent Book Club
Reading is an act of resistance.
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell, 1984
Ideal Bookshelf 1010: Resistance, by Jane Mount
Azar Nafisi, the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, writes that "a democratic society is supposed to be based on plurality of voices." But now, we find ourselves face to face with an unprecedented threat to our democracy. Authoritarian thinking has been allowed to take hold of a Republican party controlled by Maga extremists. And we must fight it. Nafisi writes,
[Reading] questions the basic tenets of authoritarian thinking. That is why this plurality of ideas and voices which fiction represents becomes dangerous to tyrants. In fiction, there is no status. In the realm of ideas and imagination, the only thing that is sacred is to allow the profanities to come in.
Every great revolution starts with an idea. America is based on an idea – Enlightenment. Once you take that away, all that is left is a different kind of tyrannical mind-set. Great fiction always questions us and brings to the foreground the essential human questions.
Donate, volunteer, organize.
“Hope Will Never Be Silent” ― Harvey Milk
Artwork by Lisa Congdon
Find a local chapter of an organization you support and ask how you can help. Here are a few to get started:
Postcarding:
Via Be the Change:
Asian American Women's Political Initiative (AAWPI) - AAWPI is the country’s only political leadership organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women.
Black Campaign School by The Collective PAC - Trains the next generation of Black campaign staff and leaders.
Congressional Black Caucus Institute Boot Camp - This highly-acclaimed intensive leadership development program is designed to help participants who want to become leaders, strategists, and key staff members.
Emerge - Recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office through an in-depth 70-hour training program and an ongoing network of support.
EMILY's List - Run to Win is a national recruitment and training program focused on helping pro-choice Democratic women around the country run for office—and win. Visit the EMILY's List Training Center for online tools to run a winning campaign.
IGNITE National - IGNITE encourages young women to actively engage in the political process and assert and demonstrate their beliefs in the public arena.
Latino Leadership Institute - The Latino Leadership Institute Academy focuses on hands-on training in electoral campaigns.
Movement School - Our mission is to cultivate leaders and organizers to fight on behalf of their working class communities by providing tools and resources to advocate for justice, achieve innovative, locally-driven solutions to key issues, and mobilize grassroots engagement in the democratic process.
National Democratic Training Committee - NDTC trainings are available to any Democrat or Progressive looking to make a change in their community. No litmus test. No cost.
New American Leaders - Training and inspiring immigrant leaders of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to run for office.
New Leaders Council - The NLC Institute is the leading leadership development program for progressive young professionals across the country.
New Politics - New Politics reinvigorates our democracy by recruiting, developing, and electing servant leaders who exemplify courage, integrity, and empathy.
New Politics Leadership Academy - Helping military and national service veterans run for office so we can fix our politics.
Progressive Change Campaign Committee - In-person and online tools allow anyone to run a best-practices campaign at the push of a button.
re:power - A trusted leader in political training around campaigning and capacity building.
Resistance School - The first free digital training platform for civic engagement and community organizing.
Rise to Run - A movement to mobilize young progressive women to run for office.
The Arena PAC Toolbox - The Arena PAC Campaign Toolbox is a collection of toolkits, tutorials, and templates for building winning campaigns.
The BLUE Institute - BLUE Institute is designed to train millennials of color seeking to become leaders, strategists and key staff members of progressive electoral campaigns.
Victory Institute - Through training programs, the Victory Institute is identifying and preparing a diverse pipeline of future LGBTQ leaders to advance equality.
VoteRunLead - VoteRunLead trains women to run for political office and win.
WLE - Winning Leaders Emerge - WLE's vision is a world in which self-identifying women and non-binary people rise to power together by providing space for them to connect with others who share their identities and experiences, build a big and bold community, and learn transformational leadership development skills.
Take action.
“Intention, good or bad, is not enough.” ― John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent