Black Girls Book Club has become a haven for Black women to connect over life, laughs and literature. Nicole Vassell speaks to founders Natalie Carter and Melissa Cummings-Quarry about their sisterhood of hundreds of women – and how they’ve become the club to join
When you hear about a book club, you might get the immediate feeling that it’s not a space for you. Perhaps you’ve heard of them being stuffy, unimaginative organisations, where the books covered have minimal relevance to your interests. Perhaps you imagine them to be spaces where you can’t fully express how you feel, out of fear of judgement or bewilderment from your fellow readers.
Enter: Black Girls Book Club, here to disrupt all thoughts you may have had about literature-based get-togethers entirely. With the ethos of being ‘not your common book club’ spread across their social media, it doesn’t take long to realise that they truly mean it.
Founded by long time best friends Natalie Carter and Melissa Cummings-Quarry in 2016, the idea for Black Girls Book Club was a natural development of their pastimes of getting together for food and drinks, and chatting about everything under the sun – from work, to their love lives, to books. At one point during their frequent meetups, they had a realisation about how renewing and how necessary the company of another Black woman can be – and how they had something special that plenty of others could benefit from.
‘We thought, “This is amazing – having this best friend that I can discuss things with from books, to boys, the best place to get a corset… it’s epic,”’ says Melissa. ‘And then we were like, “We should do this for everybody! Black girls would really appreciate it.” So we posted on Twitter saying, “Would anyone want to come to a Black girls book club?”’
Despite expectations that no-one but their other friends and relatives would respond, replies to their initial message came in steadily – and when it was time to actually sell tickets for the event, interest was so high that Melissa and Natalie ended up having to take back their tickets reserved for their mums to sell to other people (a slight that Melissa ensures me still hasn’t been forgotten – “She still cusses me to this day!”).
A prosecco-laden feast discussing Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, the inaugural brunch was a success, with around 60 women turning up in the hopes of friendly conversation and connection with others who, though each of different ages and varying careers and family setups, each shared in the experience of being a Black woman in the UK, and not necessarily feeling that their interests were being catered to elsewhere.
As news of the first brunch began to spread across social media, even more people started to get in touch, expressing their upset at having missed the first one, and asking when the next event would be. The demand was there. People wanted more – and so an idea for just a one-off, fun thing put together by friends was the start of a buzzing, active, ongoing community.
As of March 2019, they’ve held over 30 events since, ranging from discussions about social media at Twitter HQ, to a debate at the Houses of Parliament. They organise a range of events, but the flagship experience is their Black Girls Are Magic brunch: discussion about a set text, over food and booze in a safe, welcoming space.
‘Every last detail of what we do is very specific – nothing we do is a fluke.’ – Melissa
With books being central to the name of the club, there’s understandably a lot of thought that goes into the texts chosen to cover at the brunches. To date, seminal classics of the Black literary canon have been featured, including Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Zadie Smith’s White Teeth.
‘When we choose the books, we’re very specific because we feel like we’ve got a duty to ensure that we’re showing Black women different ways of life,’ explains Melissa. ‘We spend a lot of time picking the books for the Black Girls Are Magic events; with a Black Girls Are Magic brunch, it really has to typify what that means. Every last detail of what we do is very specific – nothing we do is a fluke. We pick stuff specifically because it means something to Black women.’
Having been to two of their events so far, take it from me: the attention to detail in their planning is strong, with place names for every guest around the table, and seating plans honouring different Black legends. Whether you arrive alone or with someone you already know, Black Girls Book Club provides an atmosphere that feels fun and easy, and you’ll immediately wonder how it’s possible you hadn’t attended one of their events sooner. Where other events may feel ‘cliquey’, or as if there’s an element of performance essential to make the connections you want, Natalie and Melissa actively work against that, so that everyone feels welcome and equal, just as they are.
‘I feel like the positive vibes, and the way me and Melissa host and the love we put into it, that’s the foundation,’ Natalie tells me. ‘From the emails we send, and energy we put out there, I struggle to see someone coming in to try and dismantle that… they won’t make it past the door.’
Black Girls Book Club is no stranger to high-profile guests, either; October 2018 saw them joined by Malorie Blackman at London’s Waldorf Astoria, in celebration of Black History Month and the club’s second birthday; a dinner with model and social activist Munroe Bergdorf followed just days later, and they even scored a night at Nando’s with Bad Feminist and Hunger author Roxane Gay during her first trip to the UK. The club also got a shoutout from their patron saint, Mariah Carey – who, although she hasn’t yet attended a brunch, made it clear that she was a fan of what they’re doing during a conversation on BBC Radio London. And, the connections made through the events and the online community propelled them to fly to Tobago for a girls trip and workshop session. None of these are small wins – and rather than it being a stroke of luck, it’s a result of their self-belief in the validity of what they’ve created, and the knowledge that great guests and nice venues are things that Black women deserve.
‘A lot of people thought that we were a charity at the start,’ says Melissa. ‘As soon as you see ‘Black girls’ in the title, people assume that there’s something left lacking, or wanting, or requiring something.
‘We don’t require anyone to gift us anything; I’d rather go and buy the books than have people send them to me saying, “Oh, it’s for this charity” – because Black Girls Book Club is not a charity. It’s a very good position to be in, as a Black woman, when you can say: “I can do this myself; what can you offer me?” People have to bring things to us, and if we want it we say yes, if we don’t, it’s a no. We’re not bound to any publishers, no authors – we do what we feel like doing. We’re not driven by anything other than the love and want to uplift Black women.’
‘If we know we can’t do a good job, we’d rather not do it than sell people short,’ agrees Natalie.
With both women having demanding full time jobs outside of the Club (Natalie is a real estate lawyer; Melissa is a civil servant), it takes energy and commitment to not only organise high quality events, but to build a community and an air of safety for others to be a part of. They’re not riding the trend of Black girl celebration to be popular – for them, it’s a manifestation of what they truly feel.
‘Everytime we sit down to talk about Black Girls Book Club, it’s a choice for us,’ explains Natalie. ‘That is why we keep focused – everytime we do something, it’s: “why are we doing this, who does this benefit, and how are our members going to feel about this?” When you keep the members and the people who you’re inviting at the centre of what you do, it will always be genuine.’
‘We want you to be part of this friendship that we’ve created,’ continues Melissa. ‘That’s what separates us from others – because we’re not a “brand”. We’re just two friends who wanted to start a book club. Now we have a wider friendship group, full of hundreds of girls who we love and adore.’
To keep up with Natalie, Melissa, and the goings-on of Black Girls Book Club, follow them on Twitter and Instagram: @bg_bookclub
