ABOUT US
Founded in 2022 by best-selling author Bec Sparrow and experienced English teacher Jane Sullivan, Birds of a Feather Book Club has reignited a love of reading in thousands of Australian women.
Today, it stands as the country’s most successful subscription-based online book club; cleverly meeting women where they are by offering online meetings and facilitating real life meet-ups.
Bec and Jane have turned what is typically a solo activity into a joyful, collective experience - inspiring women to put down their phones, pick up a book and join in.
We are a tight-knit yet welcoming community of readers who happily glide from delicious whodunnits to literary award-winners.
Our story
Meet your hosts
Rebecca Sparrow
Co-Founder, author & friendship expert
Bec Sparrow is an acclaimed writer, speaker, podcaster, and passionate advocate for prioritising connection and belonging in an increasingly lonely world.
Bec wrote her first book of short stories and (dubious) poems at the age of eight. Today she is the author of seven books, including the best-selling novel The Girl Most Likely, her best-selling book for teens Find Your Tribe (and nine other things I wish I'd known in high school) and her most recent book, Out Of The Box: a one-step guide for navigating neurodivergence, co-authored with Madonna King.
For the past 20 years, Bec has worked with thousands of tweens, teens, and adults, giving them the skills to find friends and build authentic connections. Her friendship webinars are watched in loungerooms across the world.
Now for the fancy stuff: In 2018 Bec was invited to sit on the Queensland Government’s Anti-Bullying Taskforce. She was awarded the 2024 Queensland Child Protection Week Media and Communications Award for her dedication to educating adults, kids, and teens about the dangers that exist online. In 2025 she was nominated for a Queensland Community Achievement Award because of her commitment and service to others in need.
She is the host of the ABC podcast Parental As Anything Teens and was a guest expert on ABC TV's Time Of Your Life parenting series.
In other words, you could totally trust Bec to water your plants and feed your cat next time you go on holiday.
Most importantly, though, Bec loves books. LOVES BOOKS. There are wonky piles of books all through Bec's house - on shelves, in hallways, under cupboards and beds, and on the kitchen table. She grew up escaping into the pages of Milly-Molly-Mandy and Anne of Green Gables and the works of Enid Blyton and Judy Blume.
It's true - Bec has a very bad habit of dog-earing pages instead of using a bookmark. THE SHAME! But she truly believes that a great book can change your life, and it's her mission to get everyone reading more.
Bec lives in Brisbane with her husband and three kids and two rambunctious Labradoodles, Reuben and Wanda. Her favourite books are Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and The Best Kind of Beautiful by Frances Whiting.
As the co-host and co-founder of Birds of a Feather, Bec's dream has always been to connect women across Australia - both online and offline, city and country - through a shared love of unputdownable books.
Jane Sullivan
Co-Founder & Book Whisperer
By day, Jane Sullivan co-hosts Birds of a Feather, Australia’s fastest-growing online book club for women, and by night, she’s probably under a doona with a good book (some habits never change). She’s also the creator of Scholarly, an online tutoring platform supporting high school students across Queensland.
A lifelong reader, Jane was the kid who stayed up late with a flashlight, determined to finish “just one more chapter.” Her love of literature led her to study English at university, where she fell for voices as diverse as Shakespeare, Charlotte Brontë, Vikram Seth, and Arundhati Roy. She spent 15 years sharing that passion as an English teacher before becoming a professional book club host, public speaker, wedding celebrant, and online course creator. She also spent five years running book clubs for kids, teens, and teachers at her favourite Brisbane bookstore.
Now, Jane pours her biblio-zest (yes, she made that word up) and literary nous into Birds of a Feather, creating a warm, thoughtful space where women connect over great reads. When she’s not recommending books or running her literary ventures, she’s wrangling her four young sons and gently encouraging their love of reading (with plenty of picture books on repeat).
Firm favourites: Still Life by Sarah Winman, My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, Dusk by Robbie Arnott.
Meet your hosts
Rebecca Sparrow
Co-Founder, author & friendship expert
Bec Sparrow is an acclaimed writer, speaker, podcaster, and passionate advocate for prioritising connection and belonging in an increasingly lonely world.
Bec wrote her first book of short stories and (dubious) poems at the age of eight. Today she is the author of seven books, including the best-selling novel The Girl Most Likely, her best-selling book for teens Find Your Tribe (and nine other things I wish I'd known in high school) and her most recent book, Out Of The Box: a one-step guide for navigating neurodivergence, co-authored with Madonna King.
For the past 20 years, Bec has worked with thousands of tweens, teens, and adults, giving them the skills to find friends and build authentic connections. Her friendship webinars are watched in loungerooms across the world.
Now for the fancy stuff: In 2018 Bec was invited to sit on the Queensland Government’s Anti-Bullying Taskforce. She was awarded the 2024 Queensland Child Protection Week Media and Communications Award for her dedication to educating adults, kids, and teens about the dangers that exist online. In 2025 she was nominated for a Queensland Community Achievement Award because of her commitment and service to others in need.
She is the host of the ABC podcast Parental As Anything Teens and was a guest expert on ABC TV's Time Of Your Life parenting series.
In other words, you could totally trust Bec to water your plants and feed your cat next time you go on holiday.
Most importantly, though, Bec loves books. LOVES BOOKS. There are wonky piles of books all through Bec's house - on shelves, in hallways, under cupboards and beds, and on the kitchen table. She grew up escaping into the pages of Milly-Molly-Mandy and Anne of Green Gables and the works of Enid Blyton and Judy Blume.
It's true - Bec has a very bad habit of dog-earing pages instead of using a bookmark. THE SHAME! But she truly believes that a great book can change your life, and it's her mission to get everyone reading more.
Bec lives in Brisbane with her husband and three kids and two rambunctious Labradoodles, Reuben and Wanda. Her favourite books are Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and The Best Kind of Beautiful by Frances Whiting.
As the co-host and co-founder of Birds of a Feather, Bec's dream has always been to connect women across Australia - both online and offline, city and country - through a shared love of unputdownable books.
Jane Sullivan
Co-Founder & Book Whisperer
By day, Jane Sullivan co-hosts Birds of a Feather, Australia’s fastest-growing online book club for women, and by night, she’s probably under a doona with a good book (some habits never change). She’s also the creator of Scholarly, an online tutoring platform supporting high school students across Queensland.
A lifelong reader, Jane was the kid who stayed up late with a flashlight, determined to finish “just one more chapter.”
Her love of literature led her to study English at university, where she fell for voices as diverse as Shakespeare, Charlotte Brontë, Vikram Seth, and Arundhati Roy. She spent 15 years sharing that passion as an English teacher before becoming a professional book club host, public speaker, wedding celebrant, and online course creator. She also spent five years running book clubs for kids, teens, and teachers at her favourite Brisbane bookstore.
Now, Jane pours her biblio-zest (yes, she made that word up) and literary nous into Birds of a Feather, creating a warm, thoughtful space where women connect over great reads. When she’s not recommending books or running her literary ventures, she’s wrangling her four young sons and gently encouraging their love of reading (with plenty of picture books on repeat).
Firm favourites: Still Life by Sarah Winman, My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, Dusk by Robbie Arnott.
We acknowledge the privilege of living and working on Aboriginal land where sovereignty has never been ceded. We pay our deepest respect to past and present Traditional Custodians and Elders past, present and emerging.
We love stories. We love reading, telling and hearing stories because they connect us whilst bringing meaning and richness to our lives. For 60,000 years the stories of First Nations people have hummed and flowed through the soil and rivers of this country nurturing us all. For that we are grateful.
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