The third Saturday or Sunday of every month – The Violet Hour Book Club hosts a reading and discussion group dedicated to exploring classic & contemporary LGBTQ literature. While meetings often occur at Espace des Possibles La Petite-Patrie, please confirm the date and location on the website, as they can change from month to month.
Explore LGBTQ literature
A monthly place to discuss classic and contemporary works of LGBTQ literature, the Violet Hour Book Club is open to the Montreal public. You don’t have to be an expert in literature to partake, nor do you even have to speak if you don’t want to. All that is required is a love of reading and books.
All VHBC books are available at a discount at Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore and Pulp Books & Café. The VHBC website also has pdf links available for some titles.
Once a month, they send out The Violet Letter, an LGBTQ literary newsletter filled with book news and events, literary links and short interviews with authors (always from a Canadian perspective). Scroll down to sign up for it here.
About Violet Hour Book Club (VHBC)
Founded in Montreal in 2018 by author Christopher DiRaddo, VHBC has become an important gathering space for queer book lovers in the city, fostering meaningful connections through a shared appreciation of foundational classics and bold, contemporary voices. The club provides an inclusive environment for lively, thought-provoking conversations on books, literary culture and the craft of storytelling – cultivating dialogue that is both intellectually stimulating and deeply personal. Everyone is welcome.
About Christopher DiRaddo
Christopher DiRaddo is the author of The Family Way, which was shortlisted for the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize, and The Geography of Pluto. His writing has appeared in the anthology First Person Queer, The Globe and Mail, and in both volumes of Here & Now: An Anthology of Queer Italian-Canadian Writing, among other publications. In 2014, he created the Violet Hour Literary Series & Book Club – with the Book Club launching in 2018 – an initiative that has to date supported over 300 LGBTQ writers across Canada.
(Photo credits: Violet Hour Book Club.)
Event details
Presented by: Violet Hour Book Club
Type of event: book club event
Host: Christopher DiRaddo
Date: The third weekend of every month, on a Saturday or Sunday (e.g., the next event takes place on Saturday, December 20, 2025). ** Please take note of the time and location, as they can change from month to month – check the website.
Start time: 3:00 PM ET
Duration: TBA
Cost: Free
Location: Espace des Possibles La Petite-Patrie, 6450 Av. Christophe Colomb, Montréal, QC, H2S 2G7, Canada (Beaubien Metro). ** While events often take place at this location, please take note of the time and location, as they can change from month to month – check the website.
Book club archive: See the list of books they’ve read since the club began in 2018.
Contact details: Violet Hour Book Club; diraddo@gmail.com, christopherdiraddo.com/violet-hour
Accessibility: The venue is not yet fully accessible to everyone, as construction is still ongoing. Currently, there is a set of exterior stairs to climb, then a flight of stairs to descend. In the meantime, they have access with detachable/mobile wheelchair ramps and an accessible restroom. To access this service, please contact edp@atse-rpp.org well in advance of the event so they can coordinate access. Since these are removable ramps, the access attempts to meet universal accessibility standards, but they cannot guarantee 100% access standards. They will send you photos of the installation for your approval. They apologize for this temporary inconvenience; they are doing their best with this temporary solution.