The Queen’s Reading Room in Australia
Sydney, Australia
Tuesday 22nd October 2024
The Queen’s Reading Room, the literary charity founded by Queen Camilla, today celebrated both its international reach and the rise of book club participation, during a visit to Green Library in Sydney. There, The Queen presented a selection of book bundles, all of which have previously been featured in The Queen’s Reading Room’s Instagram book club to representatives from local Sydney book clubs.
The titles, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak; Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernadine Evaristo; The House of Doors; by Tan Twan Eng; The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver; and, Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee were gifted to representatives from To Be Read, Bondi Literary Salon, Sydney Book Society, Hannaford Bookies and Ampersand Book Club. All gifted titles were supplied by local bookseller Gleebooks.
The Queen was also joined for the occasion by the New York Times best-selling author of Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty, and historical novelist and author of The Dickens Boy and Fanatic Heart, Thomas Keneally.
Originally established by Queen Camilla in 2021 as an online book club, The Queen’s Reading Room now reaches more than 170 countries globally and counts Australia as its third-largest audience base, with more than 612,000 literary fans reached annually.
The landmark moment celebrated the recent surge in interest in book clubs and the rise in popularity of independent bookstores in the area. Between 2019 and 2023, book club numbers quadrupled and according to Eventbrite, the number of participants has skyrocketed by 306% with more than 10,000 Australians booking a ticket to a book club last year.
Several book clubs even suggest that by bringing together local communities, their groups are directly combating the global loneliness epidemic. This theory is supported by the results of a neuroscientific study carried out by The Queen’s Reading Room earlier this year, which found that fiction readers were less likely to report feeling lonely and are more likely to report feeling connected to others.
The independent bookstore market is also seeing a resurgence after decline between 2018-2023. Many businesses report a ‘halo effect’ on local shopping areas, and as of 2024, there are now 1670 independent businesses operating. Witnessing interest, engagement and loyalty from customers, many booksellers in Sydney have also gone on to start inhouse book clubs.
Vicki Perrin, CEO of The Queen’s Reading Room said:
‘Book clubs are an enormously precious vehicle for social connection, so it’s been a delight today to celebrate some of the many brilliant and inspiring book clubs based in Sydney.
As a charity, we’re deeply interested in the unique power of books to bring us together and through our research, hope to show that regular reading is as integral to our wellbeing as our 5 fruit and veg and our 10,000 steps.
We’re thrilled to see the recent global uplift in interest in book club membership and would encourage everyone everywhere to have a go!’
Pictured: Queen’s Reading Room Trustee Amanda MacManus with Her Majesty; Her Majesty with authors Lianne Moriarty and Thomas Keneally and Her Majesty greeting representatives from local book clubs in Sydney. All images: The Queen’s Reading Room
