Two young women have established a monthly book club in a bid to help others find new friends and form a community in a safe and supportive environment.
Sian McGinn (22) from Jordanstown and Lauren Armstrong (22) from north Belfast met while at secondary school and quickly bonded over their shared love of reading.
“We were friends from day one,” Sian explained.
“You have those massive friendship groups at school that you go through but we were always the two that moved from friend group to friend group together.
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“Even through university – Lauren went to Liverpool and I stayed here and went to Ulster - we’ve always managed to stay connected.”
However, Lauren explained that when she graduated from university and moved back home she found it difficult to “meet people and make new friends”.
“I think it’s something a lot of people in their twenties struggle with,” she said.
“And we knew we wanted to tap into that and create a space where we could meet other like-minded people.”
The pair set up the Belfast Book Club in August, where people of all ages, genders and backgrounds can come together once a month to “drink coffee, chat and chill”.
“We had 13 or 14 people come to our first book club which we definitely didn’t expect,” Sian admitted.
“So the first thing we did was go round the table so people could introduce themselves, explain why they’d come along and what they wanted out of it.
“And actually most people had a similar story to Lauren, where a lot of them were in their 20s and looking for ways to make friends outside of a night out.”
Agreeing, Lauren said the club aims to create a warm and supportive environment where people can “just enjoy themselves”.
“It’s so chilled out and we try and create an atmosphere where it’s cosy, comfortable and people feel confident sharing not just their thoughts about the book but anything they want.
“We always say the book is just something to start the conversation or to use as an ice breaker.”
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Over the last five months the club has continued to grow with more people turning up at each meeting.
“We have a really good mix of people from all over coming to the book club now,” said Lauren.
“And it’s been so enjoyable even just to watch them all talk to each other and bond – it makes us feel really proud because that’s exactly what we want the club to do.”
The club has also received support from several local businesses including Lisburn Road based coffee shop Wip, where Sian and Lauren regularly host their monthly meet-ups.
“Wip has been amazing,” Sian enthused.
“Similar to us, they’re all about creating a nice, wholesome community and I’d say the guys in there are massive part of why we’ve been able to make Belfast Book Club a proper thing because they gave us a base.
“We’ve been so shocked by the likes of Wip and other businesses being so willing to help us grow this community - it’s been incredible,” added Lauren.
In addition to running the book club, the pair have also started a small business called ‘a blind date with a book’ which encourages customers to avoid judging a book by its cover or popularity.
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“We never want to monetise the book club so we decided to set up something separate that could help support us,” said Sian.
“Lauren suggested creating ‘blind date with a book’ which fits perfectly with our brand and still promotes all the things we’re passionate about like self-care and taking time for yourself.
“And we really love the fact it stops people judging a book by its cover and takes away any kind of prejudice, which we hope is something the book club does as well, so it’s a lovely full circle moment.”
Long-term, Lauren and Sian would love to open their own book-based café where anyone and everyone is welcome.
“I’d love to own a café with an event space,” said Lauren.
“It would be great to host events where people from all over society – particularly those who need supported can come and have a space to meet people and have a chat.
“We can see from hosting the book club over the past couple of months that we’ve actually made people happy and to do that on a daily basis would mean more to me than anything else.”
