This meet-up has been running since 2008 and has a community of people interested in Books, Literature, Asian culture and Asian Life. The group is for anyone living in London or near London and is open to all nationalities and ethnicities. There is a variety of meet-ups and events orgainsed for this group,  all related to books, literature or Asian culture in someway. The aim of this group is  to provide a forum for debate and discussion, and to socialise and inform. 

The meet-ups in this group are of five types:.

1.    Monthly Book Club meeting.

This is a structured book discussion, held once a month, on a weekend. It is held in the afternoon on a Saturday or a Sunday at a Central London Location. It is hosted by different members in the Group. The host selects a book for the discussion and posts it on the meet-up site 1 to 3 months in advance. The book can be fiction or non-fiction, anything that is likely to generate a good debate and discussion. The books can be by authors from Indian Sub-continent, China, Japan, South East, Central Asia or the Middle East or books about these countries, any book with any kind of connection with Asia is permited. The host chairs the discussion with the objective making the discussion participatory, thought provoking and fun. 

The book club meetings last for 2 to 3 hours, the formal discussion are followed by social drinks and most members usually also go out for dinner in a place nearby. Each meet-up is expected to have 10-20 people.

These meetings appear as featured meet-up on the meet-up site, with the title prefixed as <month name> Book Club meeting and then the name of chosen Book for that month.

2.    Meet the Author

From time to time we invite Authors for a book club meeting. The Authors can be established and successful authors or first time authors. The Meet the Author events are a Q&A and discussion session where we discuss one or more or the Author’s books and their life and work.  The meet the Author events can be on a weekend or a weekday and last for 2 to 3 hours.

It is expected that between 15 and 25 people would attend a Meet the Author Events

The meet the author events also appear as featured events with the prefix Meet the Author followed by the name of the Author.

3.   Regular Social Meet-ups

There are two types of regular social meet-ups:

The first is a monthly meet-up called the Monthly Social on the 5th of every month. The meetup is in a pub or wine bar, usually in the same location every month. There is no book to read for this meet-up, however the meet-up may have a current topic or theme nominated for the evening. The meetings are informal the topic or theme acts as a coversation starter but the discussion can be about anything and everything.  On week days the meet-up starts at 6:30 pm and go on till approximately 9:30 pm. Members are free to drop in any time in between for a chit chat. On weekend they start at 5:00pm

The number of people attending the Wine and Wisdom evenings events can vary between a handful to over 30.

The second regular meet-up is called Food and Fiction, this is meant to me a small group book discussion over dinner. A book is nominated for this meet-up, and the number of people is limited to a maximum of six. Any member can suggest a book for a food and fiction evening and set-up the meet-up. There is at least one food and fiction evening every month,

4.    Events

Any member is free to suggest and set-up an event which they feel may be of interest to other members of the group. These could be talks, exhibitions, films, cultural events or any other occasion remotely connected to books, authors or Asian culture. The events can be hosted events, where the host takes the responsibility of co-ordinating and managing the meet up or posted as for information only, that is not hosted, members can choose to go to these events if they wish but there will be no person co-ordinating or managing the meet-up.

Hosted events are posted on the meet-up with a prefix Event (hosted), the RSVP feature is enabled and the host is responsible for providing all the details of the events, such as tickets, where to meet and other details.

Non Hosted events will appear with a prefix Event (for Info). RSVPs to these events are blocked. If you are planning to go to one of these events you can post a comment and arrange to meet other people going to these events.

5.    Special Events (Trips and Parties)

The book club also organises special events such as trips to literary or art festivals, in the UK or overseas.  Each year there is a regular trip to the Hay-on-Wye literary festival in May and the Edinburgh fringe festivals in August, and other trips to places like Italy and India have also been organised in the past. These are fully organised trips,  all the details including prices, itinerary, what to expect are posted on the meet-up site and it is advisable to book these well in Advance as places are limited.  

The Book Club also has a few large group social get togethers every year. Traditionally there has been Book Club anniversary party in October and Christmas Party in December, however parties or picnics to mark other occasions may also be organised from time to time. These parties are at various venues around London.

All Special Events appear with the prefix Special Event and are marked as featured events and will appear on top of the list of meet-ups.