Welcome to the Reading Room!
In this inner circle of Brighter Winter participants, you'll find even more connection and conversation with other book lovers. Below, you'll find an overview of our scheduled ZOOM gatherings, a place to submit you questions for the authors we're interviewing, and discussion questions for our January and February book clubs.
What to expect from Reading Room gatherings...
Throughout the 2026 Brighter Winter program, we'll host five different Zoom gatherings. You can find information about each one on this page, and we will email meeting reminders each Monday before a gathering.
You choose your level of participation! Attend all the gatherings, or pick the topics or speakers that interest you; join us live on the call, or watch the replay later. The replays will be available for the duration of Brighter Winter 2026.
the schedule
Dates and times to be decided.
JANUARY GATHERINGS
1. Book Club with Cathy Breit: Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart by Russ Ramsey
If, like me, you thought fine art appreciation was only for other people, Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart is here to change your mind. By taking us behind their famous canvases and into the real, messy lives of eleven historic artists, author Russ Ramsey paints a fascinating picture of struggle, heartbreak, and hope. You may even find yourself itching to visit an art museum by the end of January!
Suggested challenge pairing: Read a book that features art or an artist
2. Author Interview with author Katrina Hoover Lee
3.Book Chat: What We’re Reading with the Brighter Winter Team
FEBRUARY GATHERINGS
1. Book Club with Cathy Breit: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion
Calling all lovers of Austen and L.M. Montgomery! This slim novel features a feisty English heroine named Emma, a horrid cousin named Archibald, and a delightfully eccentric neighborhood named St. Crispian’s. There is humor aplenty and clever dialogue in spades. The perfect February read to break through those winter blues. (For those wondering, the audiobook is also top tier.)
Suggested challenge pairing: Read a book that has humor in it
2. Interview with illustrator Margie Yoder
Our ZOOM gatherings will consist of three types of content
Here's an overview!
Author Interviews
We'll kick off each month hearing from a current author about their lives, published work, and current projects. We'll take question submissions ahead of time, and have a short Q&A time at the end of the interview, so start thinking about what you would like to ask! To submit your questions in advance, reply to this email or send us a message at brighterwinterchallenge@gmail.com, and specify which author the question is for.
Literary Nights
On literary nights, we'll have a special speaker joining us to present their thoughts on a topic pertaining to books in general and Brighter Winter books in particular! These lectures will be informal, and again an opportunity will be presented at the end for a brief discussion or questions.
For the interviews and literary topics, you aren't required to join with your camera on (although we encourage it) and discussion participation is totally optional.
Book Clubs
Our third and most interactive gathering is an online book club - one in January and one in February. These book clubs will be hosted by Cathy Breit, and she’ll be guiding the discussion (meet her on her Substack). Because the nature of a book club is participatory, we're depending on book club attendees to engage in the conversation!
For January, the Book Club will be reading My Antonia by Willa Cather. In February, we’ll be talking about Made For Friendship by Drew Hunter. If you decide to participate, just read the book assigned for that month, and come prepared to discuss. We’ll ask for an RSVP a week before to help Cathy plan accordingly. After your RSVP, you’ll receive a discussion guide in advance so you can think about the questions ahead of time.
Join Us!
Below you'll find our scheduled gatherings. Links to join the ZOOM call will be added the week of the meeting.
Video Playback Library from BW 2025
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Literary Night with Carita Keim
Watch Here!In this invigorating discussion, Carita uses two favorite books, Middlemarch and Villette to share why she believes it is improtant to read challenging literature, and how to engage with it effectively.
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Interview with Emily Smucker
Watch HereClick below to enjoy this interview with author Emily Smucker.
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Literary Night with Natasha Witmer
Watch HereEnjoy this replay of our conversation with Natasha Witmer about the value of poetry, and how to read it!
Upload Your Grids Here!
As each month's challenges wind to a close, we'll update the links here for you to upload your completed grids.