Wishing you health and hugs in 2021
Wishing you health and hugs in 2021
This has been a long and difficult year. None of us could have anticipated the journey we have been on over the past nine months, and as we look back on 2020, we want to express our deep gratitude to you, our SBC organizers.
You and your local chapters have provided comfort to readers around the world this year. You all adapted to ever changing guidelines and restrictions, wrangled new technologies, navigated socially distant book swaps, and spun up clever ways to bring your communities together.
Some groups went on temporary hiatus (ours in Denver and San Francisco included), some indefinitely. But 146 new chapters launched in 2020, and dozens of them (38!) started up post-pandemic. A very warm welcome to all of our new organizers!
Some of our chapters celebrated big milestones this year. SBC Toronto (pictured above during a social-distanced meetup in the snow) celebrated their 3rd anniversary with a lovely tribute written by cofounder Jo Nelson. SBC Jakarta blew up on Zoom with 70+ readers attending recent virtual meetups. And SBC Genova created this absolutely delightful video to celebrate their first birthday.
2020 was a busy year for SBC HQ. We began hosting virtual author chats, and created a YouTube channel to post the recordings. We got some fabulous press in The Guardian, The New York Times, and the LA Times.
We added SBC Kids gear to our online store, and launched a Zazzle shop with tons of new Silent Book Club merch. Zazzle offers international shipping and frequently posts discounts, so we recommend watching for deals if you have your eye on some swag. (Ornaments are 40% off today!)
This year was also challenging for us personally as SBC leaders. We had hard conversations about what it meant to be an inclusive community, and whether we could be doing more for historically underrepresented groups. (Answer: yes.) We updated our community guidelines, and signed the Anti-Racist Small Business Pledge. This work is ongoing, and in 2021 we're committed to continuing the effort to dismantle systems of oppression.
We want to give a special shout-out to our Silent Book Club Facebook group moderators, Meg, Leah, and Robin. These three women work across time zones and platforms to create a safe, welcoming, and positive space for more than 65,000 readers. Between the pandemic, the U.S. election, and conspiracy theorists/anti-maskers/white supremacists, Facebook was a veritable dumpster fire in 2020. So we are incredibly grateful to our team, and to all of you who host online chapters. We see you. You do amazing work. We appreciate you.
As a thank you, below is an organizer-only discount for the Silent Book Club shop on our website (the discount removes any profit we'd make). We also wanted to share our 2 for 1 Libro.fm audiobook link if you want to sign up for a new account there. And if you'd like to print bookmarks or use an SBC logo, all of those resources are here.
Here's to health, hugs, and all good things in 2021. We can't wait to read with you in the new year.
Have a restful holiday break,
Laura
Guinevere