May 19, 2025
The Litbox’s creator hopes to inspire local readership in the D.C. area.
D.C. has a new vending machine business that offers a bigger treat than candy.
The “LitBox” provides a new way to find and purchase new reads from local authors just in time for the summer. Installed in Washington D.C.’s Western Market, it now reigns as the city’s first-ever book vending machine.
I WAS BORN!!! Thanks everyone! ☺️ Thanks for the purchases, thanks authors! https://t.co/7ebIB535mZ
— Lit Box (@LitBoxBooks) May 18, 2025
The “LitBox” officially opened for business on May 17, with 23 novels to choose from across a variety of genres. Whether one likes picture books or romance novels, the “LitBox” is introducing D.C.-based writers to a wider audience.
The “LitBox” creator, Lauren Woods, wanted to find a new and cost-effective way to promote local readership in the area. After launching a campaign last fall to bring the idea from page to life, Woods reached her $5,000 goal, which allowed her to become a micro-business owner.
“Most people wouldn’t start a bookstore with just local authors because they think that will never be profitable. So this is my chance to test that on a really small scale,” said Woods to Washingtonian magazine.
While the assortment will rotate monthly, bestsellers may become mainstays in the rollout. However, the choice to start with fictional works was intentional. Woods wanted to add positivity to a city at the helm of the Trump administration’s divisive policies.
“I want to give writers and people in this town something to feel excited about,” she says. “I wanted to bring a little bit of optimism into an otherwise bleak moment.”
The bottom is reserved for children’s novels, offering a new pick for Washingtonians of all ages. She hopes the venture will inspire her community and build a stronger sense of togetherness and empathy.
She added, “Great literature is really about empathy and kind of deeply getting outside of your own framework and inhabiting another person’s consciousness.”
The LitBox had its launch party on May 17, with some of its first authors present to connect with the now-evolving D.C. literary scene.
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