There are few situations that will make a crowd of 150 go quiet, but on Sept. 29, all it will take is the beginning of a jazz piano tune in downtown Phoenix’s Hilton Garden Inn, at the corner of Central Avenue and Monroe Street. Waiters will silently ask for orders with pieces of paper, and attendees will silently respond with check marks. Most people will be drinking cocktails and eating finger foods. Everyone will be reading.
The PHX Silent Reading Party will become the first large-scale event of its kind to enter Phoenix. Joey Robert Parks, the local writer who organized the event, said it’s a chance for community members to commit to reading, despite their daily distractions.
“There are lots of people who have books that they want to read, but they’re not reading because they’re busy and they have kids or school or tasks,” Parks said. “You should be doing that more than reading your casual fiction book, right? So I’m really motivated to create a space where people are excited and want to read around other people.”
The concept of the silent reading party is not new. Invented in Seattle by Christopher Frizzelle, magazine editor of The Stranger, the idea quickly spread to San Francisco and is now infiltrating many major cities throughout the country. Parks acted on the idea following a San Francisco Chronicle article, his wife’s suggestion and Frizzelle’s support.
While Frizzelle could claim exclusive copyright for his event, he describes the importance of supporting the PHX Silent Reading Party, along with other cities’ events, as a need to give people opportunities to “reconnect with the pleasures of reading.”
“There’s more content, more media and more distractions every single day,” Frizzelle said. “People have this sense that they’re missing something in their lives … For me, that was reading.”
While the event is not solely based in Phoenix, Parks said the people, building and conversations will make it unique to the city. The distinctiveness of the PHX Silent Reading Party caused it to sell out within 30 hours, with more RSVPs on the waiting list and social media.
“I totally expected that, by the end of the day, there’d be seven likes and four people going,” Parks said. “The stats are crazy. It’s been seen 30,000 times. In the very first two days, it had 20,000 views, 400 shares. It’s crazy. There’s no way I could have expected it.”
For Parks, this has been a welcomed success, as it has led to more community members recognizing Phoenix.
“I want people to be like, ‘we’re awesome,’” Parks said. “Not in a superficial way where one person said it and another person echoed it, but really knowing it. People coming together is really important to me.”
While he now recognizes the wide-scale cultural impact that he has the opportunity to foster, Parks said he initially latched onto the concept as an interesting idea for a community event. Since then, the silent reading party has proven it has the potential to make immense non-monetary profit to the community.
“When the cultural impact hits you first, you think ‘this would be cool if,’” Parks said. “Then, when it’s happening, you realize you have a responsibility to do everything you can to let it grow organically and not get in its way.”
The event will also have charitable aspect, an element that was introduced with San Francisco’s silent reading party. Parks plans to raise $450 to purchase all 38 wish list books for the childhood literacy nonprofit Sunshine Readers, while giving attendees bracelets that read “you matter” to bring awareness to the group’s key message.
While tickets to the event are free, the funds will come from the Hilton Garden Inn’s donation of $1 per drink purchase, and a matching donation from Eeko Studio, a local design and branding company.
As the Hilton gives back to Sunshine Readers, it will also open its doors for its first community event since it was fully renovated from the historic Professional Building in December. Amanda Nance, director of sales at the CSM Corporation, the Hilton’s managing company, said that Parks’ idea gave the perfect opportunity for the company to revive even more activity in the city.
“With how much support that we had from the city on the entire project of bringing a professional building back to life, any chance that we have to give back, we absolutely take advantage of that,” Nance said.
Related: Historic ‘Professional Building’ to retain original elements during remodeling
While the exact set-up of future PHX Silent Reading Party events will be unclear until Parks evaluates the outcome on Thursday — charities and matching sponsors will change, while ticket usage and the goal of bimonthly events may be altered — the Hilton Garden Inn will remain a constant support.
“Phoenix has really seen revitalization in the past five years,” Nance said. “An event like this is such a unique event that isn’t happening all over the country or even the world, so I think it will be something that is lasting … I think it can be a new signature event for downtown Phoenix.”
For now, Parks is excited for what may happen during the upcoming PHX Silent Reading Party. Frizzelle described the romantic dates that occurred at his silent, yet social events in Seattle, whereas Parks predicts community bonding and a heightened interest in reading that will maintain his passion for the event.
“I want to be consumed by something,” Parks said. “I just want to be in it and joyful and ecstatic. It doesn’t feel like work when you pour in all these hours in meeting and staying up late, because you’re just ecstatic about it.”
Contact the reporter at Emily.Liu@asu.edu.
