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Meet the first of the reading groups shadowing the Baileys prize

We were thrilled at the response to our call out for book groups to shadow the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Here, we introduce six of the 12 groups.

The reading groups

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Book Group (above)
We are all connected to the Festival Fringe in one way or another. A shared love of the arts brought us together to work, and a shared love of a good book, a glass of wine and a good natter, brought about our book group.
As an (unintentionally) all female group, we have used the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction as a discussion book for two years running and are delighted to be part of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Reading Groups.

Ruth’s Readers
The group was born at the school gates (we are mostly mums) with some keen readers looking for somewhere to talk about books and with others expressing a desire to kick start a long neglected reading habit. Our first meeting was in September 2010 and we have been meeting monthly since then, with the host choosing what we read that month. The general opinion is that the group has met its brief – fuelling a love of reading and talking about books, and importantly providing an opportunity to get together socially, without being continually interrupted by our kids.

Eastwood Bookclub

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We are a friendly, lively bunch with a passion for literature that meet once a month in the heart of D H Lawrence country. Now in our fourth year of being formed, we love pushing the boundaries of our favourite genres and exploring new works of fiction that we wouldn’t normally read.

Two Decades of Reading Together
We have met monthly for the last twenty years, sharing our love of food and reading with dinner and a book in our homes. We have supported each other with many life events over the years, attended each other’s weddings and a funeral and have celebrated 17 babies being born in the group’s lifetime. We choose books democratically with a vote taken at the end of each meeting to choose one of the books brought along by members.


East London Book Club
We tend to focus on recent literary fiction, but books are chosen by a nomination and group voting process. Outside of our regular meetings we enjoy banding together to support each other’s professional and creative endeavours – Jacqueline is one half of dance-pop duo Goldie Thorn, while Renée is the designer of slow-fashion label Antithesis. Jessica joins in using Skype from Laos since a January work transfer and our newest member is Megan’s grandmother, Peggy, who is due to Skype in from Virginia next month.

The London Book Club

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The group was started just over a year ago – two of us were chatting about books on Twitter, and before we knew it had a venue, a blog, a book to read and eight people to join us! We’ve grown hugely since then and around 30 people meet each month to chat about our chosen book over a glass of wine. Our next meeting is 1 May, and we’re tackling The Luminaries, which is already proving divisive.

h2. Get involved
Keep check Reading Groups for Everyone for updates. You can also join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

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