New queer book club membership booms in just a few months
After only three meetups of Prince Edward Island's new queer book club, called P.E.I. Liberation Reads, the club has gotten so big that organizers have had to break it up into smaller groups.
Amy McKie started the group. The Montague resident told Mitch Cormier of CBC's Island Morning that when she came back to the Island from Toronto in 2021, it was hard to find a sense of community, given that she considers herself too introverted for the normal sort of organized 2SLGBTQA+ events.
"The parties or the parade and whatnot that Pride P.E.I. puts on are interesting… but I'm too shy or nervous to talk to people," she said with a laugh. "Books are my main hobby."
For McKie, who estimates she reads about 250 books a year, the club is "a way to talk about the books I like with great people."
At the beginning, unsure how to reach potential members, she posted a message on Instagram and printed out some "rather terrible" posters and put them around Charlottetown and Montague. That proved to be enough to attract the club's surprisingly large membership in a short time; it's now hovering just above 70.
'Just come and be themselves'
Eyitayo Ajibaibi saw a listing for the book club at a coffee shop. Her reaction was: "Yes! Finally!"
She decided to get involved as an organizer, hoping the club would keep going after the initial buzz. So far, she's loving being a part of it, the excitement obvious in her voice when she talks about it.
"I've read, like, four books that I wouldn't have read otherwise," she said. "I wanted to say yes to everything and read everything."
Ajibaibi said she normally prefers spy thrillers, and the book club has allowed her to branch out in what she reads.
She also enjoys the social parts of it: "It's great to have a place where everyone can just come and be themselves."
'Not a lot of options'
McKie is hoping the book club will end up not just giving people a different reason to get together, but also widening what kind of books are available on the Island.
Organizer Amy McKie says she hopes the book club will encourage more 2SLGBTQA+ options in P.E.I. libraries. (Jane Robertson/CBC)
"The library does not have a lot of options when it comes to queer books, especially queer books that aren't just… kind of white author/main character who are gay or who are lesbian. When you want to branch out at all, the availability is limited."
If the club shows that people will read books with 2SLGBTQA+ themes and authors, she's hoping the P.E.I. Public Library system will buy more of them to put on loan.
MacKie said the times and locations of future P.E.I. Liberation Reads meetups will be posted on Instagram. People can also contact peiliberationreads@gmail.com to get on the list for scheduling emails from the club.
