How Literary Salons & Celebrity Book Clubs are Returning in the Age of the Internet

By Debra Murray

Salons were once places for people to gather to discuss art, literature, and politics throughout the 16th to 19th centuries. Now, they exist through Substack and Patreon as a way for people to connect all over the world. 

Literary salons flourished in France, specifically in Paris, contributing to the intellectual development of France. Salons were often filled with artists and writers sharing their work or discussing works influencing the culture at the time. Salons also were typically private by being held in a reception hall or living room. This privacy meant people were free to criticize the government in cultures and was a welcoming environment for women who could be excluded from other cultural outings. 

Eli Rallo launched her literary salon called Prose Hoes on January 10. She describes it as “a literary salon for thought daughters.” Rallo is a content creator and writer of “I Didn’t Know I Needed This: The New Rules for Flirting, Feeling and Finding Myself.” The announcement seemed to have gotten zero media attention, but in less than a week, Prose Hoes’ Instagram had 14,800 followers.

Image Courtesy of Eli Rallo

Lit Girl, a Substack that creates curated conversations around a set list of books that are organized similarly to a university class. Lit Girl divides their topics into terms and modules such as “Baddies Recognize Baddies” and “Played or Be Played: Heists, Games and the Art of Social Warfare.” 

While people have found communities online to discuss books like #BookTok, a literary salon allows for more organized discussion as well as a monthly reading assignment. 

Similarly, we live in a time of celebrity book clubs: Reese Witherspoon, Oprah, Mindy Kaling, Kaia Gerber and more. (In my opinion, Kaia Gerber’s Library Science has an excellent selection of books with a wide range from books about climate change to contemporary literature. They also released a small tote bag to raise funds for the Los Angeles wildfires.)

My first experience with a celebrity book club was Emma Watson’s “Our Shared Shelf.” Watson’s book club was focused on feminist readings such as and was organized through Instagram and Goodreads. “As part of my work with UN Women, I have started reading as many books and essays about equality as I can get my hands on. There is so much amazing stuff out there!” she wrote on Goodreads. “Funny, inspiring, sad, thought-provoking, empowering! I’ve been discovering so much that, at times, I’ve felt like my head was about to explode… I decided to start a Feminist book club, as I want to share what I’m learning and hear your thoughts too.” 

The book club lasted for a few years before Watson began focusing on other things, but it allowed for meaningful discourse about feminism and intersectionality during its existence. For its time, Our Shared Shelf provided a new level of connecting over feminist text using Goodreads. 

Image Sourced through Pinterest

But, what’s so different about Prose Hoes and Lit Girl? 

Prose Hoes, for starters, has a monthly “community call” where all members meet to discuss the month’s books in a more personal way than just chatting. The salon plans to connect members in your city. The other thing that truly stuck out was Rallo’s plan to showcase one member’s writing as “Hoe of the Month.” To me, it seems Rallo truly knows her audience with this release, and in an effort of full disclosure, I subscribed almost immediately. 

Lit Girl is structured like a university class that is purely for the literary It girls. The literary it girl is usually described as someone stylish, reading the latest modern contemporary literature, and likely has a beloved author like Joan Didion or Eve Babitz. Lit Girl describes itself as: “Inspired by the taste and wit of our favorite writers, a Lit Girl has her finger selectively on the pulse of the modern aesthete.” Lit Girl brings the idea of a literary salon to the modern age by hosting in-person events in addition to the reading modules. 

Through time, the way people connect over literature has changed from salons to #Booktok to now a return to real-life salons created by online connections.