CityState: Current
Newport Ladies’ Book Club
Kylie McCollough’s monthly book club virtually connects local readers with famous authors. By Jamie Coelho
When the pandemic hit, it didn’t stop Newport County resident
Kylie McCollough, founder of Newport Ladies’ Book Club, from
gathering local readers for virtual meetups with authors.
In the past, the two-year-old monthly book club would meet at
glamorous locales like the Ocean House in Watch Hill or Gurney’s
and Castle Hill Inn in Newport for opulent story-themed soirees, but
when COVID-19 changed life as we know it, McCollough turned to
Zoom video conferencing to connect well-known authors to local
fans of their books.
One recent video venture included a dozen ladies — many dressed
in costume, including crimped hair and big hoop earrings, side
ponytails or Madonna-inspired hats — who represented their favorite
decades through fashion from the 1980s and 1990s to early 2000s.
The women convened from their homes for a discussion with author
Margarita Montimore of Oona Out of Order, who joined from her
Brooklyn abode. After her book tour was canceled, it was a great way
for Montimore to continue the momentum of her new release about
a woman who lives her life by being transported to different decades,
lived out of order.
Not just anyone can gain access to bestselling
authors for their book clubs, but McCollough
has the connections to make that happen. She
has relationships with writers including Elin
Hilderbrand, Eve Rodsky and Jenna Bush Hager,
and she’s able to connect a local, intimate audience
to their books. A more recent virtual book club
event involved Jeanine Cummins, author of the
controversial book, American Dirt, which portrays
the migrant experience.
McCollough is best known for her starring role
as a luxury realtor on the Bravo reality TV show
“Real Estate Wars,” a spinoff of “Million Dollar
Listing.” She moved to Newport, Rhode Island, from
California with her husband, James McCollough,
a custom yacht designer and an America’s Cup
official, in 2016. Currently, she’s a luxury property
specialist for Mott and Chace Sotheby’s and
specializes in high-end homes in Newport County.
She says Newport’s real estate business is driven
by other major markets like New York City, Palm Beach and Boston,
where people are seeking second homes. She was drawn to reside in
Newport because of its sailing culture and proximity to her parents
who live in the Rangeley Lakes region of Maine. “Some summer
communities go dormant in the off-season, but Newport doesn’t,”
she says. “We’re seeing a lot more activity extending into the fall,
winter and early spring.”
McCollough was a member of a popular book club in Newport
Beach, California, where she lived for twelve years, and she longed
for a similar one in Newport, Rhode Island, where she could build
the same deeper connections with women that she had in her previous
community.
“I wanted a way to connect with women in my new town in a real
way, that wasn’t just at the grocery store or at soccer practice or
school. I wanted to feel like this is something just for us,” says
McCollough, a mother of two elementary school-aged boys. “It was
about talking with other women about ideas and challenges and
things that matter.” instagram.com/kyliemccollough; instagram.com/
newportladiesbookclub �
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARA COONEY / COURTESY OF KYLIE MCCOLLOUGH
18 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JULY 2020