Muhl Wellesley is one of the general librarians at the Somerville public library, as well as the founder of the library’s Queer Book Club, which meets on the third Monday of every month and began in July 2024, though Wellesley started planning it back in March 2024. We spoke with Wellesley about the queer community built through this space after one year, the library’s focus on accessibility in the programming process, and how organizing the book club makes them feel hopeful for the future of literacy. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why did you want to start the club?
I felt like it would be a good book club for the Somerville community specifically. I myself am queer, and I just thought it was something that would maybe help a little bit with community building with the queer community. We do have a queer craft night, and obviously we have a lot more specific one-off queer programs in June, but we wanted something that would last a little bit longer and build off of itself.
What response has the book club gotten?
So far it’s been nothing but positive. It’s a queer book club for adults, which I think is generally more palatable to the broader community, just in general, but we don’t really promote it all that much on social media or anything because we don’t really need to – because it has a pretty good following so far already.
Do you have any favorite books you’ve gotten to read through the club?
One of the books that everyone has loved so far, which if you’re a reader will not surprise you, was “The Long Way With Small Angry Planets” by Becky Chambers. It was a hit when it came out, and it was a hit with everyone in the book club. It’s just a lightly queer in a queer nonconformative universe sci-fi book, and that sparked a lot of discussion. They also really liked “The Skin and its Girl,” that one we met virtually for. Usually we get about four people, but that week we got about eight because everyone just loved the book and wanted to talk about it.
Why do you think people should prioritize reading?
I think it helps broader perspectives of the world around us, helps us to try on different hats of different people, and it helps us, at least reading a book and discussing with a bunch of people, it helps frame the world around us and just process different experiences. Obviously, literacy is very important to what we do here at the library.
Why would you suggest people join this book club?
Definitely join this book club, if you’re queer and in Somerville and the neighboring areas, and you want to build a little bit of queer community and also broaden your horizons, if you feel like you’re stuck reading the same one genre or anything, it’s definitely a good way to do that. As far as any book club in Somerville or surrounding libraries go, again it’s a really great way to broaden your horizons for what you’re reading, just see more of what’s out there and connect with your fellow people a little bit more.
What has been the most rewarding part of running the book club?
It’s definitely seeing my regular attendees, seeing the number of regulars grow, and seeing them talking with each other outside of the book club and not wanting to leave the book club when it’s time to leave. Last month, we actually had someone who wanted to ask anybody who was interested to connect via email so they could continue talking after the book club had ended. And that was like, okay, instantly I’ve won book club. Because then people are leaving the library still connecting, still building their own personal communities.
Do you feel hopeful or pessimistic about the future in terms of education and literacy?
That one’s a little hard. It is a queer book club for adults, though we do get a fair amount of young adults. Generally speaking, though, the people who join book clubs are people who are already reading a lot, so in our tiny little microcommunity, I feel very hopeful, because everyone seems really passionate about reading, about learning and about talking about what they’re reading. Some of our younger crowd mentioned reading the book the day before book club meets, which is an insane reading speed, but they’re doing it! So I’d say pretty hopeful.
This post was updated July 29, 2025, to correct the spelling of Wendy Wunder’s name.
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