The excitement the Douglasville native brings to her undertakings is demonstrated by her ability to see the positive aspects of a situation. Evans, a psychology graduate of Emory University, is passionate about books and works as a marketing professional by day.
“We had books in the house all the time,” Evans added. I was a voracious reader growing up. In the third grade, I founded my first book club and was the best reader in my class.
Evans returned to his passion for leisure reading after graduating from college and relocating to Midtown. She wasn’t by herself. Many individuals, especially millennials and Gen Zers like Evans, resorted to books for solace and pleasure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the extremely busy TikTok subgroup #BookTok was born out of their social media posts about it.
Evans would post her book evaluations on social media, reading three to five books a month. She saw a sense of community growing as people interacted with her posts, and she wanted to use this to facilitate in-person conversations. Thus, in late 2023, she founded the Atlanta Book Club. The first meeting took place at a Buckhead restaurant. There were ten persons present.
“When people wanted to stay together and then go thrifting across the street,” she continued, “I knew we had something.” I wanted this to be about fostering relationships and making a difference in Atlanta, so it was part of my original vision and goal. Although I don’t want the book to be the main attraction, I do want it to serve as a springboard for real connections and dialogue.
Atlanta Book Club hosts socials, book swaps, silent book reads, craft sessions, and audio book walks, where members walk the Beltline together while listening to various audio books on their devices. These events complement the club’s regular monthly book discussions at various locations throughout the city.
However, Evans admitted that we just start talking half the time. Individuals can express themselves in a wide variety of ways. Not everyone wants to discuss books when seated at a table. They would want to be outdoors. The Atlanta Book Club has a lot to offer a wide range of individuals.
There are currently over 400 members of the club. Evans stated that anyone 17 years of age or older is welcome, and she is actively seeking for more male members, despite the fact that the majority of participants are Black, female, and between the ages of 23 and 50.
Members vote on the books they read, and the club reads both fiction and nonfiction in all genres. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures are recent examples.
Personally, I adore a good psychological suspense story. Evans added, “I like to be kept on my toes.” Recently, I’ve also become interested in sci-fi thrillers. Blake Crouch, Dark Matter, and Recursion are a few of my favorites. I adore the dystopian atmosphere. These books’ themes of time travel and the capacity to alter the past or the future have caused me to think a lot about my own life and how I see myself in this world.
Evans believed that planning a festival was the next logical step after the book club’s success. She was shocked by what she discovered when she started investigating it.
I thought, “Wait, there isn’t even a book festival in Atlanta?” We don’t have one for the residents of this area, however there are ones in Decatur and Conyers. She added that people of all ages, from kids to adults, might enjoy the festivities.
There wasn’t one specifically for millennials and Gen Z. We desired a special item for ourselves. “People love the book club because they see themselves in it,” Evans added. They perceive people who resemble them in a variety of ways, including race, genre, and the type of books they enjoy. They perceive commonalities in a lot of different ways, and I wanted the event to help them realize that.
Evans intends to give the festival her own unique spin, of course.
Evans stated, “We don’t just do the thing.” We need to make it more enjoyable.
At The Gathering Spot, the one-day celebration begins at 4 p.m. There will be a matcha pop-up, book sales, poetry readings, crafts, an author panel, and more. The involved authors’ names have not yet been made public. Tickets cost between $30 and $40, plus fees. Visit eventbrite.com for more information.
There will be extra activities in the run-up to the festival, such as a supper with authors, a book swap, and a Pilates session. Evans thinks the festival will grow into a multi-day event if everything goes according to plan.
Follow the Atlanta Book Club on Instagram to stay up to date on their events.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You can get in touch with her at [email protected].
