Bonding over Books: Erin Woodward & The Girly Book Club

by Angela Wallace

I walk into Le Pain Quotidien in Victoria, London and Erin Woodward waves me over to her table. She’s a Canadian expat and a dead ringer for Reese Witherspoon. If I put her in a pink Chanel suit with a pint-sized puppy Erin Woodward would look like the Elle Woods of book clubs. She’s the founder of the Girly Book Club, which today has more than 3,000 registered members. In 2007, she moved from Toronto to London, UK to be with her partner David.

“I spent my entire first year in London with no friends,” Erin confesses. I cringe out of compassion. Her experience with social exclusion after a major life transition is commonplace. She tried to make connections through David’s network of friends and with work colleagues, but she felt she needed to make her own friends to have social independence. She searched for a book club and couldn’t find one.

“There are tons of small book clubs,” she says “Normally when you think of book clubs, you imagine 8 women in your living room drinking wine. It’s very intimate.”  That dynamic can make it difficult to create new friendships in a new place.

Erin launched her own unique book club in August 2008 and used the online social networking tool Meetup. Fifteen women came to the first event, held at a bar. Everyone grabbed a glass of wine and started talking. It’s been the winning formula ever since.

“I thought, oh this is brilliant! I ran it for a year like that but it kept growing and growing.” Erin says. The largest event was the month the club read Twlight and seventy-seven women showed up at the bar in London. Erin laughs when I slip into my advertiser voice to say, “Brought to you by Robert Pattinson.”

The Girly Book Club is now in six cities including Denver, Oklahoma, Nashville, New York, Toronto and London with over 3,000 members in total. Outside of London, local women volunteer for Erin as Girly Book Club hosts and run it on location. The hosts play an important role welcoming women and putting them at ease.

“Is it really about the books?” I question Erin.

“No! Women come for more than the books. Every woman who walks through that door is interested in having more friendships.”

The Girly Book Club phenomenon started as one woman’s attempt to create some connections in a city known to be large and lonely. It’s now an opportunity for hundreds of women to make meaningful social connections in six different cities. It proves that the market for personal relationships is still strong, even in the age of the twitterati and Facebook. Many women who join the group are expats from places like Canada, the United States, and Australia. Through Girly Book Club, women have made in the flesh friends who become their bridesmaids, their travel buddies across Europe, and their support systems away from home. For more than three years, Girly Book Club members have met up for countless brunches, lunches and dinners. That’s why Erin does it.

“It’s my absolute passion. I love everything about it. I hope to continue to develop and grow the Girly Book Club.”

I know she will, because her Meetup member profile still inspires women when they read her quote, “New to London and love to read.”

To learn more about the Toronto Girly Book Club click here.