Recorded on Thursday, September 29, 2022
I speak to Vicki Ziegler, organizer of a silent book club in Toronto and #todayspoem on Instagram and Twitter.
We start with a conversation about tea. World of Tea. I show my mug, “Write Like a Motherfucker” from Rumpus.net.
We discuss our love of reading and Vicki’s career as a technical writer and site designer.
We discuss the Silent Book Club. Vicki talks about what it is and the club she runs in Toronto. The clubs celebrate readers and reading.
the Silent Book Club, an international movement with 300 chapters began in 2012.
Info about Vicki’s Silent Book Club
She talks about the changes to the club during the pandemic. Its expansion to Wales and USA.
Vicki talked about the reading lists that she created. The list has garnered interest as well.
The Great Escape Book Store, one of the locations of the meetings.
Vicki talks about the importance of literacy, not just as comfort but also at a time when words are being so twisted and bastardized.
We discuss the lists and photos, and book-related content on the Silent Book Club section of Vicki’s site.
Exploring Poetry: Today’s Poem
Vicki talks about what made her start doing #todayspoem.
A Poem A Day: Portable, Peaceful And Perfect by Alan Heathcock was an inspiration in 2011.
We talk about the handwritten lists Vicki makes for Todays Poem and The Silent Book Club.
I ask about what prompted Vicki’s love of poetry.
I ask about which books Vicki is looking forward to.
A walk with Tanis MacDonald reading from Mobile.
I ask what she is currently reading.
Note of Praise
In Vicki Ziegler’s Book Gaga blog and her social media feeds, her love of reading and community shine through. The Silent Book Club is for every reader and every book. It opens rather than closes conversations and inspires curiosity and friendship.
Through BookGaga.com, Vicki writes reports, posts photos of the SBC meetings and compiles lists of books read by members, while also exploring various book-related topics, such as drinks pairing, other people’s reading lists, such as Barak Obama’s summer reading lists, and stand up routines about Ancient Greek and Roman figures. It’s basically a bibliophile’s paradise.
Today’s Poem, which began in 2011, is another wonderful way in which Vicki gathers community through her own practice of reading poetry daily and encouraging others to do the same. I am often struck by a snippet of poetry shared by those who post to the hashtag #todayspoem on Twitter and it inspires me to look up the work and poet. This is an example of the good that can be done through social media.
Thanks to Vicki for being on the show, to Jennifer Pederson for the intro and outro, to Charles Earl for processing and to you for listening to and sharing the episodes each month.
Stay tuned for future episodes with Ethel Zine, and Hem Press in 2022, plus another episode in our ongoing poetics series in December, and a whole new thread I’ll announce later for 2023.