Felicia Haney and Dahlia Fisher started Rebel Readers to bring more exposure to diverse authors, while creating a space for Northeast Ohioans to meet and break down misconceptions.
Rebel Readers Cleveland recently celebrated its first birthday. The book club, which aims to champion diverse authors and unite Northeast Ohioans, was founded by Felicia Haney and Dahlia Fisher in 2023 and has grown in popularity. They now meet the third Sunday of every month at 3 p.m. at Loganberry Books.
The next meeting will be held Oct. 20. They’ll be discussing Nina Riggs’ “The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying.” They’ll be joined by guests Catherine Holloway, breast cancer survivor and Liz Shapiro, death doula. The event starts at 3 p.m. Registration is not required, but is encouraged.
Fisher, a 2024 graduate of The Land’s Community Journalism course, took time out of her schedule to chat with Executive Director Chris Mosby about the success of Rebel Readers Cleveland and what folks can expect from the group moving forward.
CM: How did Rebel Readers start?
DF: Rebel Readers started with me and Felicia. We’re co-founders and we’re two women from very different backgrounds. I’m white and Jewish, she’s Black and Muslim, and we came together because we’re friends and colleagues and we have a ton in common. We found ourselves talking about all kinds of different things that are similar and different about us in a totally organic, natural way. And we thought, we can have these civil conversations. Aren’t there other people that want to have these civil conversations about what makes us human, and isn’t it interesting to be curious about each other?
CM: And that became Rebel Readers.
DF: Right. We decided to use literature as a tool to break down barriers and bring people together. Rebel Readers is a book club, but it’s more than that. It’s a tool and a program, really, that breaks down barriers and builds community through books.
CM: When did you start meeting?
DF: September of 2023. We first met at the Maltz Museum [of Jewish Heritage]. We did our fall season there. But we also wanted a neutral setting and we had been in communication with Loganberry Books in Larchmere. A bookstore really seemed a fitting place to meet. Loganberry also offers 10 percent off their merchandise to our club, so that’s an advantage for people that want to come and support a local, independent bookstore.
CM: When was your first meeting at Loganberry?
DF: We launched [the Loganberry sessions] in February 2024 with Quartez Harris and the pre-release of the new edition of his work, “We Made It To School Alive.” It was a stunning introduction to the community. We had 75 people attend. Quartez is just so outstanding, and he’s been doing such amazing work.
CM: Sounds like a great introduction to the Loganberry community, too.
DF: Another thing about Loganberry. We just participated in this really awesome, I’m not sure exactly how to describe it, almost a Book Club Fair at Loganberry [Editor’s note: It’s called the Book Club Open House and it was held on Oct. 1]. Loganberry hosts a lot of book clubs, and obviously there are a ton of book clubs in the community. Loganberry invited everyone on their mailing list to come to the store and they had the book club leaders there, almost like vendors. Like, what is our book club about? It was amazing. First of all, the room was full. And it was so great. I know so many people that want to join a book club but don’t know where to start and this was an incredible event for that.
CM: That sounds fantastic. How many book clubs were there?
DF: I’m not sure. Around 10, maybe? More? We were next to a book club for Charles Dickens’ work, and there were queer book clubs, and political dystopia book clubs. There were romance book clubs, and the upmarket book clubs. And there was us. We often get mistaken for a political justice book club, which we’re not.
CM: How would you describe Rebel Readers?
DF: We’re humanity driven. The reason that we call ourselves Rebel Readers is that we’re reading books that redefine who we are, and ask us to step out of our comfort zones. So the rebellious nature is in not allowing social media, or media in general, to tell us what we think and to go investigate people and communities for ourselves, and then not be afraid to sit in community and have civil conversations and be curious and respectful. And so the best book clubs that we’ve had, you see a mix of all kinds of people.
CM: And how is Rebel Readers organized?
DF: Every month we focus on a theme. This year, we’re reading memoir and nonfiction specifically. There’s nothing I hate more than reading an amazing book and having no one to talk to about it. So to read these books and then be able to have conversations is part of the excitement of a book club, especially when they’re difficult books, because you want to process it with someone, and it brings you closer together. So, for example, this October, we’re honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The book we’re reading is called “The Bright Hour, a Memoir of Living and Dying.” And we always have guest speakers. We have a breast cancer survivor and activist coming as our guest speaker, along with a death doula.
CM: How do you determine which books you’re going to read and discuss? Is it based on your available speakers, upcoming events, like Disability Awareness Month, or just the books themselves?
DF: All of the above. Felicia and I will do a ton of research, we’ll work with people at Loganberry. We’ll ask ourselves, “Does this fit for us?” “Could we get a good speaker with this book?” We work as a team on book selection.
Some of it is also what else we’re reading throughout the year. We care about intersecting identities. There’s always a look at how we hold multiple identities in each one of the books. We’ve read stories about people who are Black and Jewish, books about first-generation Americans, immigrants. We’re looking at the scope of what we’re talking about through the course of the year.
[Upcoming book club selections can be seen on the Rebel Readers website.]
CM: How do the meetings work?
DF: One of the things that separates Rebel Readers from other book clubs is the way we show up. So, we always do something that I call “writing into the room.”
CM: What is “writing into the room?”
DF: I pass out little pieces of paper and pencils and I ask an opening prompt, and nobody has to share, but it’s an inviting way to get people to groundset. When I teach writing classes, I open with meditation. It’s a ground-setting that brings us all into the space together. We might say, “Why are we here today? What do you think of when you think of grief?” The prompt is always connected to the book in some way. Usually, everyone wants to share. It gets everybody present and together.
It builds a sense of community. You find that most people are there for similar reasons. But also, everyone is there because they were interested in seeing what we’re all about and meeting new people that they wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to cross-section with.
CM: What happens afterwards?
DF: We talk about the book, we talk to our speakers. They’ll talk about reference points that really resonated with them in their personal journeys. Then we have a Q and A. People talk about what came up for them [when reading the book].
The most interesting moments will be when someone will raise their hand and say, “I’ve never been able to ask this before, but I feel like I want to ask it now,” or, “I hope it’s OK if I ask the group this…” It becomes a space where we’re talking kind of intimately about things that we’ve never been able to address before that.
CM: How can people get involved with Rebel Readers? Can folks just show up to a meeting?
DF: Absolutely, it’s the third Sunday of the month at Loganberry at 3 p.m. My partner, Felicia Haney, always says that even if you didn’t read the book, or you didn’t finish the book, you should come. You’ll still get something out of it. The important thing is that you show up. You can always get the book afterwards. Yeah, there will be enough people that read the book to carry the conversation. You’ll still get something out of it. And I think that’s such an important thing to know, is that, yes, we want you to read the book, of course, but it’s just about being together.
We’d love it if you could register online, if you do plan on coming. It helps us get a sense of how many people might be coming. It helps us determine how many snacks to buy, etc. But every one of our events is free. We’re happy to have you, whoever you are.
Rebel Readers Cleveland has two sessions remaining in 2024. Details on both are below. Reservations are not required to attend, but help planners determine how much food and other goods to secure.
Nov. 17 — For Veterans Day, Travis Harman reads from his new memoir, REMOTE OUTPOST, the true story of a punk skater kid thrust from a small town into a battlefield fighting to win his father’s approval, enlisting together in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard after the horrors of 9/11 shake the nation. Make your reservations here.
Dec. 15 — Honoring Int’l Day of Disabiliites, we read and discuss Pulitzer Prize finalist and philosophy professor, Chloé Cooper Jones’ groundbreaking memoir on disability, motherhood, and the search for a new way of seeing and being seen. With guest speaker Nikki Fugget-Dobbins, blind since birth. Reserve your space here.
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