How to Start a Poetry Book Club (Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners)
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📌 Five Basics of a Poetry Book Club
📌 Encouraging Book Club Participation
📌 Bonus Tip: Lower the Stakes
📌 Start a Book Club for National Poetry Month!This article contains affiliate links for Bookshop.org
As both a poet and bookseller, I’ve become acutely aware of the public’s perception of poetry. I’ve said this before in my previous columns, but poetry is in need of a publicity revamp. According to The National Endowment for the Arts, readership in poetry has seen a steep decline between 2017 and 2022. I have noticed this hesitation to read poetry in action while handselling to customers at The Head & The Hand. I’ve found that readers who may be interested feel intimidated by poetry or feel like the only poetry available to them are Instapoets or dead white guy poets.
Based on my observations as a poet and bookseller, I started a BookTok account (which I’ve previously written about) dedicated to showing that poetry is for everyone. There, I recommended and analyzed poetry, demystifying it and inspiring interest to over 4,800 followers. However, in light of the political climate, I realized that in-person gatherings are vital to creating a sense of community and safety, and that bookstores especially become a hub of mutual aid and unity in times of political crisis. With this in mind, I started a book club for my neighborhood this year called Poetry is for Everyone. Over the past six months, we’ve read and discussed poets like Diana Khoi Nguyen, Warren C. Longmire, Kayleb Rae Candrelli, and Richard Siken.
Want to spread the love of poetry in your community? Here are some tips to get your own poetry book club running!
Five Basics of a Poetry Book Club
1) Use your local library or indie bookstore as a resource!
Bookstores and libraries are vital gathering spaces for any community. I’ve mentioned previously they often serve as hubs for social justice causes and camaraderie for book lovers, making them perfect fits for your book club!
These spaces are usually open to hosting book clubs; but even if your library or bookstore is at capacity, they will most likely be more than happy to let you hang up a poster or promote your book club on their social media.
If your bookstore or library doesn’t have the capacity to host a book club, think of other venues that serve as a community space in your neighborhood. This could be a coffee shop, a park, or community center (to name a few!).
2) Choose a poetry book that is easily available to the public.
Thumb through your local library’s poetry catalog and see what poetry they have available. I’m always pleasantly surprised getting lost in the poetry section at my library. If you approach your local bookstore, ask how they stock their books; some small press publishers only ship through indie-press distribution centers.
You can also check out The Poetry Lab’s shelf on Bookshelf.org for recommendations.
If there aren’t many poetry books available at your local library, learn the process for requesting poetry books be added to their catalog!
3) Choose a poetry book that has “a hook” that would intrigue someone not familiar with poetry.
This could be a poetry book that has an overarching story to it like Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red or Elizabeth Acevedo’s Clap When You Land, or it could have a pop cultural touchstone to showcase relatability like Morgan Parker’s There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce or Cloud Missives by Kenzie Allen.
This could also be a local poet. A few of our book club picks featured local authors and we even invited them to chat about their book and answer questions about the writing process.
4) Decide how frequently you want your book club to meet
This is an obvious but often overlooked step!
Think about your own capacity as well as the selected venue’s availability. The poetry book club I lead, for instance, generally meets about once per month but have adjusted to every other month during the holiday season.
5) If possible, print out a few poems for the group.
Sometimes the library only has so many copies of books, and someone interested in joining a book club may not have the funds to purchase the book. This way, while someone may not be able to talk about the book, all members will still be able to participate.
Encouraging Book Club Participation
Emphasize that it’s okay to be confused!
When it comes to discussing literature, we tend to veer away from the parts that confuse us, equating confusion to our own stupidity. But confusion is so important in reading and writing—it makes us more probing and curious readers. Without confusion, there is no wonder, and without wonder, the mind contracts.
Start with the reader’s feelings
People often view poems as puzzles needing to be solved, which not only instills frustration in the reader but also misses the art of poetry. The reader’s feelings are vital to the understanding and appreciation of poetry. When teaching college literature classes, I would use an approach that emphasizes the students connecting their emotional reaction to the poem to literary analysis. The approach I used in class and at book club is adapted from English education researchers Karen Simecek and Kate Rumbold.
Here's how it works:
Have group members read the poem to themselves and mark and highlight lines, images, sounds on the page that stick out to them. Do not have them wonder why (this is for later!)
After everyone has read the poem silently, have them close their books while you or someone else reads the poem out loud. Have the students take note again on what they noticed by having the poem read aloud.
As a group, discuss what they noticed in both readings and how their reactions made them feel. Then from there, ask how these reactions connect to what is going on within the poem.
Bonus Tip: Lower the Stakes
Poetry can be intimidating to those just getting started, so it’s important to find ways for readers to participate without putting them on the spot and forcing them to speak.
Participation can come in many forms and people may feel more comfortable communicating their thoughts or reactions in ways other than discussion. Here are some ideas on how to create more modes of participation:
Ask group members to write questions about the book on a piece of paper and put in a bowl. Use these as a springboard for book club discussion.
If you have space, you can ask the group to write their reactions about the book on post-it notes and tack on the wall.
No two book clubs are the same, and it’s important to tailor the structure of your book club to your readers’ needs. You can ask them informally right as book club is wrapping up—ask them if the exercises you guided them through were useful and what they would like to see more or less of.
I hope these tips are helpful to you! If you decide to start a book club and want to share, please feel free to tag me in your book club picks on Instagram. Happy reading!
Start a Book Club for National Poetry Month!
April is National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the United States, launched in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. Each year, it’s a chance to celebrate poetry’s place in our culture through readings, events, and community initiatives.
Starting your club in April can give you built-in momentum: libraries, bookstores, and literary organizations are often already programming events, highlighting poets, and eager to support community-led gatherings.
Check out Our National Poetry Month Prep Guide ↗
Need a Jumpstart?
Use Kristen’s questionnaire in your first poetry book club meeting to set the tone for how your group will collaborate as they explore poetry.
These questions aren’t just feedback—they’re a way to:
Lower the stakes for new readers who may feel intimidated
Center personal experience rather than “right answers”
Shape the structure of your club based on what participants actually want
Encourage reflection on how poetry is landing emotionally and intellectually
Think of the questionnaire as both a conversation starter and a foundation. It helps you understand your group’s interests, comfort levels, and curiosities so you can build a book club that feels responsive, and welcoming from the very beginning.
Poetry is for Everyone Book Club: Questionnaire
What did you find most useful about book club?
Anything you’d like to see improved for the next book club?
Has this book club made you think of poetry differently? If so, how?
Are there any topics/aspects of poetry you’d like to focus on for next time?
Do you have any suggestions for a future book club pick?
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Created by Kristen Brida
This article was published on March 31, 2026. Written by:
