In times of infinite screens and algorithms that dictate what to look, it surprises (already inspires) see Certain celebrities choose a book as a stage partner. Models, actors, musicians and influencers are shown today with a copy in their hands, claiming the intimate pleasure of reading. And in that gesture there is something else: Each photo or recommendation that they post has a multiplier effectbecause they end up influencing thousands of followers who, perhaps, are encouraged to discover an author or a genre.
International readings
In the universe of international celebrities, books have long ceased to be a private object to transform into part of the public image. The singer Rosalia, for example, surprised her fans when she suggested her library in networks: a copy of “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous “(” On Earth we are fleetingly great “) of the writer Vietnamese Ocean Vuongit was enough for thousands of followers to launch to identify the title and recommend it, as if it were a wink of complicity with the artist.
Something similar happens with Sarah Jessica Parkerthat years ago he turned his passion for reading in part of his public identity. The actress of “Sex and The City “ He never leaves home without a copy in the portfolio and was a jury of the Booker Prize 2025, where he confessed to having read up to two books per day. His presence in New York independent libraries loading batteries of novels consolidated that facet that goes beyond Carrie Bradshaw’s writer, her most iconic character.
Dua Lipa took this trend one step further: to show yourself reading at airports or dressings -among your most commented photos was the “One hundred years of loneliness “by Gabriel García Márquez- began to create in 2022 the “Service95 Book Club”, a monthly space where he recommends titles, shares interviews with authors and even theme playlists. The singer, who had already launched a cultural newsletter and has her own podcast, thus became a literary curator for millions of followers who discover authors thanks to their selections.
The actresses Natalie Portman and Lena Dunhameach with its style, also multiply the phenomenon. The first, from a more classic profile, recommending feminist essays and fictions in interviews and networks; The second, from irony and pop culture, generating dialogues in their digital community around the accompanying books. The interesting thing is that these individual gestures were also amplified until they reached the creation of true reading clubs with global repercussion.
And if there is someone who is a pioneer in the matter, it is Reese Witherspoon: his “Reese’s Book Club”, born in 2017Choose novels with female protagonists every month and became a machine to generate Bestsellers, to the point of having triggered the sales of several titles. For its part, Dakota Johnson joined the trend in 2024 with “Theatime Book Club”, a project of its producer that combines readings with playlists and artistic context so that the experience is more immersive.
Local market
In Argentina the trend also found its referents. Pía Slapka, model and driver, turned her passion for books into its own project: “The pia library”, a virtual space where it shares readings, organizes raffles and even sells specimens that it recommends. Her account works as an informal reading club, where followers not only read what she proposes, but also comment and spread the reading enthusiasm. Julieta Ortega also shows her readings on networkswith titles that go from contemporary narrative to gender and political essays, always with a personal and close tone that generates identification.
Gonzalo Heredia is a separate case: he started sharing what he read in his free time and ended up writing his own booksconsolidating as an author with several published novels. His double role as reader and writer made him an interesting bridge between the entertainment world and the literary field. More unexpected was the Declaration of Cazzu, the Argentine trapera, who in an interview with Vogue confessed that he usually reads up to three books at the same time. That image of an urban artist, associated with the immediacy of streaming and digital culture, multiplied the comments of surprise and admiration and added a different dimension to his public figure.
In all these cases, what appears is not only the personal taste of each celebrity, but the echo they generate in their community. Each recommendation, each photo and each mention works as a trigger for cultural consumption. What they read ends on the wish list of thousands of followers. And that effect has the potential to translate into something that is scarce these days in the editorial market: sales that are fired overnight.
As explained Valeria Fernández Naya, Marketing and Communication Director of Penguin Random House: “In Penguin we have the mission of connecting books with readers. The more we are the ones who infect that passion (which is also a healthy habit, which nourishes us, protects us and helps us to think and better understand the world we inhabit), the better. People with public exhibition and influencers are fundamental allies to hold bridges with new audiences, because they manage to amplify the message and awaken curiosity. And experience that pleasure and you can recommend a book from honesty, it is surely who will be heard. ”
To that look is added Ignacio Iraola, director of the Naesqui Cultural Center and former editorial director of the Planeta Group for Argentina, Chile and Uruguay: “Generally adds when it is someone who has to do with art or culture. If Mercedes Morán or Rafa Ferro show, comment, recommend a book, they can have some kind of impact, especially for the visibility and credibility they have. It is not the same as a person well referenced by the culture that someone who has nothing to do with. María O’Donnell, Ernesto Tenembaum, Sebastián Wainraich or Reynaldo Sietecase. In addition, he says that it is something that usually see in Naesqui himself, where someone many times comes to ask for the book that recommended this or that known figure. “At a time when books do not have so much visibility, every new space is welcome,” he celebrates.
Although without concrete numbers that reflect national sales, it may be taken as an example what happens in the international market, where there are hard data on how celebrity visibility moves the needle. In fact, they can be sought as back as 1996, the year in which “OPRAH EFFECT” It was documented when his first recommendation made “The Deep End of the Ocean ”by Jacquelyn Mitchard (“The ocean fund”) will pass from 100,000 to 640,000 copies printed in two weeks. Several years later, Reese Witherspoon took the post with measurable impacts: “WHERE THE CRAWADS SING “by Delia Owens (” The Wild Girl “in Spanish) It jumped from an initial run of 27,500 copies to more than 1.4 million copies sold in a short time and today exceeds 18 million at a global scale.
It is seen that fashions change, but a book always retains a unique aura. And although it was a symbol of intimacy, today it can also be subject to cultural desire.
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