Poetry Book Club
Surprise the Line presents a monthly poetry book club!
Need a reason to raise your glass?
Spend Happy Hour with us discussing the poets of Southern California!
Free to join! Space is limited. Facilitated by Shelly Holder.
What Is Poetry Book Club?
"BYOB: Bring Your Own Book, Bring Your Own Beverage" is a poetry book club that meets the last Saturday of the month at 5 PM PST. In a laid-back, no-interpretation-is-wrong atmosphere, we’ll approach each collection as readers first—for the love of the words. But bubbling throughout will be topics of interest to the working poet: where experimentation pays off or falls short, how the personal and universal are handled, how themes start to echo, etc.
Why Join?
This group will provide a little bit of motivation and a little bit of accountability. Why not tackle those books you always meant to get around to reading? Here, you can ask the questions that reading alone may leave unanswered.
Ultimately, this group works towards a better understanding of the poems and the book in order to combat a widespread fear, even (or perhaps especially?) among aspiring poets: Are others reading this the same way I do, or do I just not “get” poetry?
How It Will Work
The facilitator will send a few discussion questions ahead of the meeting for anyone who would like to have some focused direction. Feel free to come prepared with your own questions, or just join in on the discussion when you feel like it! Or, feel free to just listen to the conversation.
The only "homework" is to simply read the book ahead of the meeting. For the comfort of all participants, these discussions will not be recorded or shared. Respect and integrity are our guiding communication values.
What You’ll Get
a community of peers
a sense of the LA poetry landscape
a space to ask questions and share insights
What You’ll Need
the book of the month
your beverage of choice!
Zoom
Monthly Book Picks:
To see the monthly book picks, please scroll all the way down this page to view the event calendar and find the last Saturday of the month. Then you can register at Eventbrite for each individual event following the links in that page.
You can purchase books anywhere, but we recommend supporting local bookstores in the literary ecosystem! You can visit BookShop.org and search for your favorite local bookseller. If you don't have a favorite bookstore, we recommend buying from Bel Canto Books, a WOC-owned, thoughtfully curated bookstore that promotes diverse voices in Long Beach, California.
Free to Join
This book club is free to join! It's in our mission to offer accessible community spaces for learning and discussion.
About the Facilitator
Shelly Holder lives in an outer-outer-outer suburb of Los Angeles. She’s looked for a poetry book club for years, but finally realized that if she wanted one, she’d have to run it herself. You can email her at shellyholder@ymail.com if you have questions or concerns about this series.