The University of Manchester’s Feminist Collective is a society that runs weekly Monday meetings where they discuss a range of topics from sexuality and gender to education and discrimination, to name just a few. They have recently restarted their feminist Lit Club in which they meet once a month to discuss a feminist text.
The Lit Club is an informal space for members to get together once a month. The Feminist Collective held a book club last year over lockdown as a way to connect people during COVID-19 and due to high demand they have decided to bring it back this semester.
With accessibility one of the society’s core values, they made the decision to keep the Lit Club online so that it could be opened to a wider community. As the Monday meetings cannot be recorded, this offers people who are unable to travel to the Student’s Union the opportunity to attend and be a part of the Feminist Collective remotely.
All the texts will be shorter works so that the Lit Club is more accessible, removing the pressure of having to read a full-length novel alongside your studies.
Due to its online nature, the meetings tend to be smaller, meaning that members are able to be more social and get to know each other better. This gives the Lit Club a more intimate and comfortable environment to discuss the literature through a personal lens.
The first Lit Club of the semester was Zami: a New Spelling of my Name by Audre Lorde as part of Queer History Month. The text, part fictional, part non-fictional, is inspired by Lorde’s own experiences as a Black lesbian in 1950s America. The text received a good response from the Lit Club as the readers were able to relate to Lorde with different levels of context.
The Lit Club is a collaborative effort with the Feminist Collective encouraging group members to make suggestions of texts and even offering the possibility of running the session with help from the committee. It’s a great way to connect with other feminists and with literature whilst discussing feminist topics on a par with the Monday meetings.
The next Lit Club is on the poem Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing by Margaret Atwood, focusing on body autonomy alongside the theme of Reclaim the Night this week. The Feminist Collective will also be running a banner making session for Reclaim the Night on Monday 21st March 5-7:30pm that you can also get involved with.
To sign up the Lit Club follow the link in the bio of @uomfeministcollective on Instagram. The Lit Club is open to everyone with minimal commitment, just sign up when you have the time or are interested in the text.
