Today we’d like to introduce you to Paola Sottanis.
Hi Paola, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Silent Book Club Genova started in December 2019, when Ilaria and Erika came across an article in The Post about the Silent Book Club movement. They immediately fell in love with the idea: a book club without assigned books, homework or pressure—just people reading together in silence and connecting afterwards if they felt like it.
At the time, there was nothing quite like it in Genoa, so they decided to give it a try. The first meetings were very small, with just a few close friends who shared their enthusiasm for books and community. Those first gatherings helped shape the welcoming atmosphere that still defines the club today.
After our first ten meetings, Italy went into lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than putting the project on hold, we decided to move our gatherings online, becoming the first Silent Book Club chapter in the world to do so. What started as a way to stay connected unexpectedly brought together readers from all over Europe: Italians living abroad, people from Genoa who had moved overseas, and readers simply looking for an online community during such an uncertain time. Those virtual meetings reminded us that books could bring people together even when we couldn’t physically be together, and they helped many of us feel less isolated during one of the most difficult periods in recent history.
As with any long-term community project, our organizing team has naturally evolved over the years. Some of the original members have moved on, while new friends have joined and become organizers themselves. Each person has brought fresh ideas, energy and perspectives, helping the project grow while staying true to its original spirit.
Today, Silent Book Club Genova is much more than a reading event. It’s an open community where everyone is welcome, regardless of what they read or how much they read. We’ve hosted meetings in cafés, bookstores, parks, libraries and cultural venues across the city, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see complete strangers become regular faces—and often friends—through the simple act of reading together.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a completely smooth road, although every challenge has helped us grow.
As we mentioned before, the pandemic forced us to adapt very early on, but once we returned to in-person meetings, we faced a different challenge: finding places willing to host us. Silent Book Club Genova is a volunteer-run, non-profit initiative, so in the beginning it wasn’t always easy to explain our project or find venues that could welcome us regularly without expecting anything in return.
Over the years, however, that has completely changed. Thanks to the support of our readers and the relationships we’ve built across the city, cafés, bookstores, libraries and cultural spaces now often reach out to us and invite us to host a meeting at their venue. For us, that’s one of the clearest signs that the community has become something meaningful—not just for our readers, but for the city itself.
Another ongoing challenge is that the organizing team naturally changes over time. People move, start new jobs or simply have less time, while new volunteers join with fresh ideas and enthusiasm. We see that as one of our strengths: the project keeps evolving, but its core values—making reading accessible, welcoming and pressure-free—have remained the same since day one.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Silent Book Club Genova is much more than a book club—it’s a community built around the simple joy of reading together.
Our meetings are open to everyone. There are no assigned books, no deadlines and no pressure to speak. Everyone brings whatever they’re reading, we spend an hour reading in silence, and afterwards those who wish can stay for a chat. We believe that reading, often seen as a solitary activity, can also create meaningful connections.
What makes us most proud isn’t the number of events we’ve organized, but the people we’ve met along the way. We’ve seen strangers become friends, newcomers to the city find a sense of belonging, and readers rediscover the pleasure of making time for themselves.
If there’s one thing we’d like people to know, it’s that everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a literary expert or even a prolific reader—just bring a book and join us. The rest happens naturally.
The organizing team of Silent Book Club Genova is made up of Giovanni C., Ilaria M., Ilaria V., Letizia L., Paola S., and Sandro A., and these are the current organizers. Some of us were already friends before this journey began, while others met for the first time through our events. Over time, those encounters turned into something deeper, and what started as a shared idea gradually became a real bond. Today, beyond organizing meetings, we are simply a group of friends brought together by books, silence, and the quiet joy of reading side by side.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The easiest way to support us is simply to join a meeting. Bring a book, take an hour for yourself, and become part of our community.
We’re always happy to collaborate with cafés, bookstores, libraries, cultural organizations and local businesses that share our belief that reading can bring people together. Offering a welcoming space for one of our meetings is a wonderful way to support the project and help build connections within the city.
Silent Book Club Genova has grown thanks to the people who believed in it, and we hope it will continue to grow in the same way: one reader, one conversation and one shared silent hour at a time.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silentbookgenova?igsh=MWhkZ3FjbTlhYWc4cA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18eKpx7Yni/?mibextid=wwXIfr
