29 September 2026
From Chicagoland to Philadelphia, a new platform is quietly gaining momentum among bookstores and author events, aiming to make literary events easier to discover. Lit Circle, launched by former Volumes Bookcafe co-owner Rebecca George, tracks author readings, signings, book clubs, and festivals across the country.
The free digital platform is currently in beta testing in the Chicagoland area and is expanding to Philadelphia ahead of the city's metro-wide book crawl in August. George plans to "open the gates" and add metro areas across the country in the coming weeks, filling a growing need in the literary community.
Lit Circle partners with local bookstores that host authors on tour, creating a one-stop shop for readers to find and share literary events. "As a bookstore owner, I always knew there was a need for a platform like this," George says. "Readers wanted to discover local events, and authors were eager to reach a broader audience. Lit Circle connects these dots for everyone."
The platform's features include a calendar of upcoming literary programming, alerts for events in readers' vicinity, and a dedicated e-blast to promote author tours. Planned additions include a mobile app, a "passport" for readers to track their event attendance, and original articles and book reviews. For bookstores, Lit Circle offers an interface to log events, and for authors, it provides a new channel to reach readers.
George, who co-owned Volumes Bookcafe in Chicago for over a decade until its closure in January, says the idea for Lit Circle came from working with authors on their book tours. "I saw firsthand the challenges in booking and promoting events, and the missed connections between authors and readers," she recalls. "As bookstores embraced technology to stay competitive, a digital platform that connected these dots seemed overdue."
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To build the platform, George partnered with technology consultant and longtime Volumes customer Patrick DiMichele. The duo secured $400,000 in funding from private equity and are aiming for another round as the platform expands.
While Lit Circle is the first of its kind, it enters a literary community already transforming around digital platforms. Black women's literary communities, once contained in living rooms, have gained momentum with online initiatives like Well-Read Black Girl, which launched in 2015 and claims over 400,000 followers. The National Book Club Conference, which began in 2003, now hosts hundreds of attendees in Atlanta each year.
Lit Circle is part of an evolving trend, says DiMichele, blending the intimacy of book clubs with the reach of the internet. "It's a middle ground, a way for literary communities to meet virtually, then in person, allowing the conversation to broaden," he explains. "As more readers engage this way, it can inspire deeper connections in person and online."
The momentum behind Lit Circle is in line with the quieter expansion the platform is experiencing. With author book tours beginning to ramp up, the platform and its quiet momentum seem poised to gain significant traction. Beyond the practical convenience of discovering literary events, Lit Circle underscores a cultural shift in how readers engage with authors and each other.