The Bookmarker Club

Club Lees is all about good stories, the love of reading, and what happens in the margins of a book. The four main members of Club Lees are young, creative celebrity readers: singer-songwriter Naaz (25), spoken word artist Mahat Arab (28), actress Hanneke van der Paardt (27) and BookTokker Noah de Campos Neto (22). The Club Lees app releases a free digital book (selected by the leading club member) every five weeks. The book is enriched with content by them: notes, remarks, links, videos, music or memes. These are added in an additional layer (‘a digital margin’) that is accessible from the book itself. It feels like you are reading along in their personal, annotated copy of the book. Short-form content on Instagram and TikTok plus an online meet-up with readers accompany the release. The other three club members, as well as all the readers, can comment on the notes and additional content and discuss them right there in the digital margin. Readers can also invite their friends to start their own private small book club in the app. After 5 weeks, the book, the notes and the comments disappear and a new annotated book appears: the temporary nature creates a sense of urgency to join, a true shared reading experience. This online book club by VPRO targets 15-35 year-olds.