Quick Facts
- • Founded June 2023 in Brooklyn, NY
- • Co-Founders: Ben Bradbury, Tom Worcester, John Lifrieri, Charlotte Jackson
- • 500+ events hosted worldwide
- • 50,000+ tickets sold
- • 20+ cities across 6 continents
- • Featured in The New York Times, TODAY Show, Good Morning America, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Forbes, and more
What is Reading Rhythms?
Reading Rhythms is a global community of readers who gather through in-person "reading parties." Unlike traditional book clubs, there are no assignments and no deadlines—you bring whatever you're reading, and we provide the music, the ambiance, and the community. It's not a book club. It's a reading party.
Our Story
It was June 2023. Four friends—Ben, Tom, John, and Charlotte—were facing a problem that felt all too familiar: they were socializing a lot, but not reading enough. Between work, screens, and the endless pull of city life, the slow, focused joy of sitting down with a book had started to slip away.
So they asked themselves: What if we combined the social energy of the city with the mindful energy of reading?
They figured out a format that gives people a nice mix of time to connect and time to themselves, invited 10 friends to a "Reading Party" on a Brooklyn rooftop, and went from there. No assignments. No deadlines. Just reading, together.
Then The New York Times featured them. Overnight, people from six continents reached out wanting Reading Rhythms in their cities—Sydney, Rome, Guadalajara, London, and beyond.
What started as four friends missing reading has become a global movement—proof that in an age of constant distraction, people are hungry for spaces to slow down, connect, and read together.
Key Milestones
- • Jun 2023 — First reading party with 10 friends on a Brooklyn rooftop
- • Dec 2023 — Featured in The New York Times
- • 2024 — Expanded to 15+ cities; partnerships with Hinge, Aesop, Penguin Random House
- • 2025 — 750+ readers at Hudson Yards; ongoing NYPL partnership
- • Jan 2026 — NYPL Reading Festival attracts 2,000+ readers in freezing temps
Select Press Coverage
- • The New York Times — "It's My Party and I'll Read If I Want To"
- • TODAY Show — "Move Over Book Clubs, It's Reading Parties That Are Lit!"
- • Hobnob Magazine — "New York's Hottest Club is a Reading Party"
- • Time Out New York — "NYC's Largest Reading Party Hits Hudson Yards"
- • New York Public Library — Official Partnership
Media Assets
For logos, brand guidelines, high-res photos, and other press materials, please contact:
press@readingrhythms.co"If you asked me two years ago what I'd be doing and I said, 'I'm professionally throwing reading parties,' I would've been like, 'Get outta here!'"
— Ben Bradbury, Co-Founder & CEO
Press inquiries: press@readingrhythms.co