Yes, we will read one book a month together, and our activities, activations and conversations will be centered on that book. But Prose Hoes intends to become a collective, a watering hole, a community, a place of belonging for life-long readers and those looking to start from scratch. 

Literary Salons were most popular from the 16th through 19th centuries, defined as a collection of likeminded individuals who gather together to explore intellectual topics together, often sharing writing. The attendees focused on both writing and general topics. While our salon will be centered around one book a month, we will create spaces—podcasts, meetings, chats, epistolary correspondence and more to have conversations spanning far beyond the pages of our monthly book.

The book club needed a face lift. Reading is sexy. Books are hot. Literacy is seductive.'Book-ish girls' and bookworms have always gotten the underdog treatment—depicted as quiet and mousey and serious in pop culture and media. But why can't cracking open a fresh book and a bottle of wine be as satisfying a Friday night as hitting the clubs? Why can't it be seen as sexy and cool and exciting to stay up all night because a book kept you awake? Why can't you grow your mind like you're encouraged to grow your social circles in your 20s? Why can't you do both? We intend to bring back the literary salon for those of us who are looking for new friends, fresh stories and new perspectives while reading one dynamic, interesting, diverse book a month (over a glass of wine that has been perfectly paired to said book). 

Now that we know what we are… what’s in it for you? 

For starters, your annual reading list. 12 books, 1 per month, hand selected by yours truly—spanning across all genres. Books that will challenge us, books you may not have selected for yourself otherwise, books written by diverse and experimental authors, books that are both brand new, and older than us. 

Each month, we’ll have a themed community video call to discuss our book. You will receive guided questions prior to the meeting via email so you can be prepared with talking points, you'll also receive journal prompts, food and bev pairings and a playlist to help center your month around our Prose Hoes book choice!

Each month we will also take admissions for 'Hoe of the month', and we will use our email list and platform to share the selected Hoe's writing with the group for discussion on our monthly call.

We have community chats set up via Patreon to help you find fellow Prose Hoes in your city so you can even join the video call from the same space together (as long as you are following the theme and have prepared the recommended beverage and snack pairing). 

To accompany each book, we'll also be releasing one podcast episode per month, either with a guest (authors and bookstagrammers and friends and more) or solo, to discuss my initial thoughts, reactions and analysis of the book. The podcast episode will also discuss that month’s media, culture and pop culture happenings as well. 

We will also be hosting in-person Prose Hoes events several times each year in many major US cities, both with and without me (sometimes mom just has to drop you off at the function, sometimes she comes to party)! Think brunch, wine tastings, tea, group fitness classes, dinner parties and more. 

Of course there are more surprises in store — from merch drops to newsletter drops to community activities we put together. 

I cannot wait to read, drink and play with you, prose hoes. Stay sexy.

Your devoted scribe and head prose hoe, 

Eli