Frequently asked questions

The Book Club runs on six weekly cycles. In each cycle you will:

• Be asked to vote for the next book. We will send you an email with a shortlist of three books inspired by the places ShelterBox has worked around the world.
• Receive an email announcing the winning book which will be sent to you in the post.
• Receive the winning book in the post with a letter telling you about one of the families supported by ShelterBox after a disaster.
• Be invited to our discussion week events. You will be sent a link to enable you to join our Zoom meetings, Q&As and social media debates with other members.
• At the end of the cycle you receive a new book, and then we vote on the next book.

By joining the ShelterBox Book Club, you are committing to helping families across the world hit by disaster.

Your payment will also help cover the cost of the book and maintaining the Book Club, which is £5.66 per person every month. This is therefore the minimum amount acceptable to join the Book Club, and any payments above this go towards providing aid to families hit by disaster.

In return for a recommended £10 monthly payment, you will get:

• The chance to vote on a carefully selected shortlist every six weeks
• A ShelterBox bookmark
• Your own copy of the winning book through the post – to read when it suits you best
• Regular emails from our Head Bookworm
• An online video discussion with other members, and a social media debate on each book. Links will be sent via email.
• A chance to join a live event which gives greater insight into the book we’ve read, often in the form of a live Q&A with the author
• Stories of the real people around the world who are being supported by ShelterBox thanks to your donations

We handpick the three shortlisted books. From there, the book with the highest number of votes is selected – everyone gets the same book.

We read stories that focus on people; modern literary fiction, autobiographies, and short stories from all over the world. We choose books that share underrepresented stories from cultures and communities that don’t often appear on the bestseller list. The twist that makes the ShelterBox Book Club unique is that we choose the books inspired by the people who’ve been helped through ShelterBox’s disaster relief work.

Some of our favourite books that we have read are:

• The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer (Malawi)
• Life as a Unicorn by Amrou Al-Kadhi (Iraq, Kuwait, UK)
• A Woman of Firsts by Edna Adan Ismail (Somaliland, UK)
• We, The Survivors by Tash Aw (Malaysia)
• A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum (Palestine, USA)
• Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa (Japan)
• Augustown by Kei Miller (Jamaica)
• The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (Vietnam)

Every 6 weeks our Head Bookworm shortlists three books for you to choose from. You’ll be sent an email asking you to vote for your favourite and there’ll be lots of reminders on our social media channels too so you won’t forget. The book with the most votes wins and will be sent to your home 4 weeks later, just after we debate the previous book, making sure there’s never too much of a gap between your book club books.

Each book you get is yours to do as you please. Once you’ve finished reading each book why not give them to a friend to help them learn about new cultures too?

If you have a bookworm in your life who would love to be a member of book club, you are able to buy a gift membership in 3, 6 or 12 month packages.

Gift Book Club today

The books will arrive 4 weeks after the winning book choice is announced, usually at the end of the discussion week for the previous book.

If you think the book should’ve arrived by now, but it hasn’t, please contact our Supporter Care team on 0300 0300 500 or email us.

We’ll always let you know (through social media) when our books have been sent out and if a few days later you’re still waiting, let us know.

You can do this by emailing us here or calling our Supporter Care team on 0300 0300 500.

The ShelterBox Book Club is currently only available in the UK. We hope to be able to expand the Book Club’s reach in the future. If you are interested in receiving books to an international address, please let us know by emailing [email protected] and we’ll put you on our waiting list. For all future announcements, you can follow the ShelterBox Book Club Facebook page here.

All the books are packed by hand and we do our best to make sure that no books get missed out. On the rare occasions this happens or if your book simply gets lost in the post then please contact our Head Bookworm.

While we can’t pause memberships, you can stop your membership then re-join again at any time. If you want to talk to us about your membership, please contact our Supporter Care team on 0300 0300 500 or email us.

If you want to donate to ShelterBox without taking part in the Book Club, please contact our Supporter Care team on 0300 0300 500 or email us.

Yes. If you want to skip a book but continue with your payment to ShelterBox, please contact Head Bookworm.

You can either skip the book and only join our discussions or, we might be able to send you a copy of one of our previous books instead. If you already own a book that has just won our vote, please contact our Head Bookworm.

At the moment we can only provide a physical copy of the book.

If you have not received your gift membership e-voucher, please check your junk folder and if you have still not received your voucher then contact our Supporter Care team on 0300 0300 500 or email us.