Conversations with Maggi Harris

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maggi Harris.

Hi Maggi, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Silent Book Club itself is an international sensation! With over 2000 chapters worldwide, the organization was founded in 2015 and rapidly grew. SBC Marietta was first created in August 2023, and I inherited the chapter in August 2025. With my background in office organization and social media marketing, I wanted to grow our schedule from the half dozen regular businesses we visited to what is now over 20 locations. The demand for a variety of spaces and time frames allowed me to expand and create my own sister chapter in SBC Kennesaw. Between the two chapters, we average about 17 meetings a month across all days of the week and many time frames, making it convenient to anyone who wants to take time out of their day to visit us and read.
Our focus as a chapter is to foster connections between the reading community with local artists and businesses. We work with organizations and clubs to bring special events and collaborations with authors, artists, and small businesses in Marietta and Kennesaw Georgia.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Upon first inheriting the chapter in August, I jumped in with both feet and started swimming! Being the sole leader and facilitator for several months, I realized I needed to put out the bat signal for help. I’ve grown my team of volunteers, who have helped me facilitate meetings and create flyers and posts for social media.
Creating the Kennesaw Chapter has been a fun adventure, but has also presented its own challenges. SBC Marietta is so popular that we consistently have people reaching out to us about hosting meetings in their spaces. Kennesaw businesses, however, haven’t witnessed the work we’ve done for our community firsthand and it can be an interesting conversation to have with restaurants and venues when we want to take up a section of their space to read for an hour on a weekday night!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Working with Silent Book Club has been one of the best experiences of my life. The organization itself is a powerhouse of fostering connection among introverts and connecting people to local businesses wherever you are around the world. To have had the opportunity to collaborate with organizations like the Atlanta Humane Society and Good Mews Animal Foundation; indie bookstores like Lavender Bookshop, A Better Today Bookstore, the Reading Attic, the Artful Rabbit, TBR Book Bus, and the county library, as well as featuring events with local authors like Dhayana Alejandrina, Paris Blatecky, Doug Jones, Karmen Lee, Meka James, and Julian Winters has been a true honor.
We’ve been featured in Cobb Life Magazine and on Your Bookstore Besties podcast, and now here with Atlanta Voyage. Getting the chance to gush about my passion for reading and creating space to celebrate the people and places in my communities is a privilege. I am grateful every day.
The other local chapters of SBC have been so welcoming and encouraging! They spread the news of our events and attend sometimes themselves. I feel so inspired to be surrounded by so many creative, compassionate people.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I believe readers are better people. Whether you read one book a year or over 100, and whether you read history, smut, fantasy, memoirs, comic books, or manga, I think being a reader makes you a more empathetic person. Reading allows you to experience life beyond and outside of yourself. The connection we can have to characters and worlds helps us to build our own character arcs in our personal lives.
As someone with chronic health issues, it’s important to me to meet people where they are. Mingling at our events is optional, and there’s no expectation for anyone to perform. You have a place with us whether you come to an event every week or once every few months.

Pricing:

• Typically events are free. We host some special events that our pay as you go, adventures we call side quests. If possible, we ask Our Group to support the places we visit by making a purchase or donation, but it is not required.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silentbookclubmarietta?igsh=eHAxMGU2OXpwOXBm&utm_source=qr
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/sbckennesaw?igsh=MXQ0OHdvYXIzcWtzMA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr