Over the past three decades, Sisters With Books, a book club that meets on the second Sunday of every month, has brought together Black women in the Madison area and beyond to read and discuss hundreds of fiction and non-fiction books written mostly by Black authors. Along the way, women from all walks of life have formed lifelong friendships.
Founded in July of 1994 by six Black women in Madison, Sisters With Books has become a vibrant community of Black women united by their love of literature.
“A lot of us young professional women at that time when we started were just young women looking for a social outlet. A lot of us were not from Madison. We were newly here for work and we didn’t know a lot of people,” Marilyn Ruffin, one of the original founders of Sisters With Books, tells Madison365.
What started 30 years ago as local in-person meetings at homes, back porches and coffeeshops in Madison has evolved into a nationwide virtual network, now bringing together readers from across the country. Through the years, hundreds and hundreds of Black women would come through the book club to enjoy the camaraderie, the sisterhood, the networking and the socializing as they discussed authors and books such as CollegeBooks. Sisters With Books was officially founded on July 10, 1994.
Pictured (L-r): Marilyn Peebles-Ruffin, Jackie Haley, April Clincy, Edrea Dismuke, Karen Davenport. Original SWB member Christy Ferguson took the photo.
“In the early ‘90s, you just didn’t see a lot of Black women in Madison unless you went to churches,” Ruffin remembers. “I can’t remember where we were, but one day we said, ‘Let’s get together a book club!’ Soon every month we were at each other’s house having dinner and talking books. We were all childless professional women at the time.”
Through those 30 years, the women in the group would go on to start families and have children and even grandchildren. “We watched our children grow up and now a lot of our kids have grown up but we still get together, for the most part, for all 30 years,” Ruffin says.
The name, SWB, pays homage to SWV (Sisters with Voices), a popular R&B vocal trio from New York City in the ’90s. The very first book at the very first meeting, Ruffin remembers, was “The Bridges of Madison County” by Robert James Waller.
“At that time, that book was on the hot New York bestseller list,” Ruffin says. “So in July, 30 years ago, we got together to form the book club, and then August was our first official book club meeting to discuss our very first book, ‘The Bridges of Madison County.’ Love that book.
“Those early years, I’d say there were about 20 of us at a meeting. And, remember, this was before AOL and the Internet. So we had to mail out the book selections. We had to get everybody’s address,” Ruffin remembers. “We had a president, vice president, a treasurer. We collected dues so we could purchase the stamps … this was before the Internet and email. And we were for real; we were serious about this. We chose the books. We had a partnership with Borders Book Store, remember them? Everything was hardcover books.”
Through the years (and decades) Sisters With Books would gather in various members’ living rooms, back porches, reserved meeting spaces, or would host authors at local libraries to discuss the “book of the month.”
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, SWB faced some new challenges as they transferred from in-person to Zoom meetings. In the end, it helped the group to expand its network to all over the United States including places like Michigan, Mississippi, Washington D.C. and more.
“So we’ve gotten comfortable with the Zoom,” Ruffin says, “and that just brought on new folks who wanted to join …. friends of friends who live in different states.”
To commemorate the 30th anniversary, Sisters With Books is planning an Anniversary Celebration Zoom Party on Sunday, July 14, 5:30 p.m. The event will be a virtual gathering to celebrate their journey and a nostalgic look back at their history while discussing favorite books and authors they’ve read over the last three decades.
“This Sunday, which is the day that we normally meet … the second Sunday of the month, we will all get to be together on a Zoom and kind of reminisce with those who want to wish us well and those who have been part of the book club years ago,” Ruffin says. (E-mail [email protected] for the Anniversary Celebration Zoom link or to send congratulatory messages.)
In September, SWB will celebrate their 30th anniversary with an in-person dinner party in Madison to properly “celebrate the longest-running and hippest book club in Madison since 1994,” Ruffin laughs.
As technology improved the way people can access literacy works and communicate with each other over the years, SWB continues to be a cherished part of its members’ lives 30 years later.
“Nowadays, you can read a book so many ways digitally or online, but after all of these years, I really just love an old-fashioned hardcover book,” Ruffin says.
For more information about Sisters With Books, Zoom links, upcoming book club discussions, and how to become a member, e-mail [email protected] or follow the group on Facebook.
