Regular visitors to TBTP know that I have an inordinate interest in vending machines, especially when they dispense books. I recently heard about a cool new one at the entrance of Western Market in downtown Washington D.C. What makes this vending machine unusual is that all of the literature is  written by local authors.

LitBox was launched by author Lauren Woods in a bid to promote and celebrate smaller press books that have to contend with a hypercompetitive publishing industry and the current administration’s slashing of federal funding for the arts.

As NPR reports in an article on the project, LitBox  aims to raise the literary profile of Washington, D.C. “I’m so proud to live in this city, and it doesn’t get enough good attention,” says the LitBox founder. “And so I wanted to do something to share my pride in the people that I live with and talk to every day, too.”