Emma Roberts Picks “Didion and Babitz ”as Book Club Belletrist's Latest Selection: ‘Felt Like She Was Writing to Me’ (Exclusive)

Belletrist, founded by Roberts and Karah Preiss in 2017, is partnering with Tertulia to create a new subscription service for the online reading community

• Emma Roberts has shared that the latest selection for her book club, Belletrist, will be the nonfiction book Didion and Babitz by Lili Anolik

• The selection marks the beginning of a partnership with book discovery platform Tertulia, which features a paid monthly subscription service for Belletrist members

• Roberts and Karah Preiss founded Belletrist in 2017

Emma Roberts is sharing the latest selection for her book club and online reading community, Belletrist.

The actress, who launched Belletrist with Karah Preiss in 2017, revealed that the club’s newest selection is Didion and Babitz by Lili Anolik, out Nov. 12 from Scribner. The nonfiction book details the complicated friendship between writers Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, who both chronicled 1960’s California in their work and died days apart in December 2021.

“Joan Didion was the first writer I truly loved as an adult person,” Roberts tells PEOPLE in an exclusive email interview. “She was the first writer I read who I felt was mine ... of course, I quickly learned that so many people feel this way about Joan Didion, but when I first read her — and I still feel this way — I felt like she was writing to me.”

Belletrist’s latest book club pick also kicks off a collaboration with Tertulia, an online book discovery platform, app and co-op bookstore. The Belletrist and Tertulia partnership features a paid subscription service, in which Belletrist’s monthly book picks will be mailed to subscribers. 

Other benefits of the paid membership include early access to Belltrist’s selected titles, exclusive book discussions with Roberts, Preiss and authors and a complementary Tertulia membership. The first 200 members to sign up for the Belletrist membership will receive an early copy of the club’s November selection. Premium subscribers will also receive a special gift — a limited-edition Belletrist hat designed by Preiss and Roberts.

Related: Maya Hawke to Narrate Audiobook of Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem: 'An Incredible Experience' (Exclusive)

“We started Belletrist in 2017 with a collection of Joan's writings called South & West and we are now launching a new endeavor — to bring the book of the month to subscribers through our partnership with Tertulia — with another book related to Joan: Didion & Babitz, written by our friend Lili Anolik,” Roberts says.

“Joan is in the DNA of Belletrist and I would argue that Belletrist probably wouldn't exist if not for me and Karah's shared connection over her writing.”

“Our aim has always been to deepen the connection between readers and books, and help facilitate conversation with community members,” Preiss says in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “We’re excited about having more authors engage with our community on a forward basis.”

Roberts and Preiss founded Belletrist based on a mutual love of reading, per their website. Today, the friends have chosen over 70 books for their club, including both fiction and nonfiction titles. When it comes to what Belletrist are looking for in a book club selection, Roberts says that there isn’t a set method for choosing their next read.

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“We get asked this all the time and I always feel like my answer makes us sound deliberately mysterious, but the truth is that there is no formula and maybe that's why it works?” Roberts says. “We do tend to privilege literary fiction, but as is evidenced by our first Tertulia x Belletrist pick, we often deviate from our true North!”

“It's genuinely whatever moves us,” she continues. “But I will say this ... we try to pick books that we read and then need to talk about. That's what makes a good Belletrist pick. You read it and you're like: I gotta talk to someone about this — now!”

With the expansion of Belletrist through the Tertulia partnership, Roberts notes how the book club’s community has grown over the years and how social media really started it all.

Related: Joan Didion's Biggest Pop Culture Contributions, from Slouching Towards Bethlehem to A Star Is Born

“I think you can say what you will about social media, but we have been so lucky to find one corner of the internet that is so uniquely positive and engaging,” Roberts says. “When we first started Belletrist as an ‘Instagram book club’ people were like ‘what does that even mean?’ And then COVID happened and people really craved digital connection in a meaningful and organic way.”

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“Since then, there has been such significant openness to connecting about books we love on social media,” Roberts adds. “And it just keeps growing. All I'll say is the ‘DMs’ aren't a terrible place to discuss books.”

For more information on the Belletrist and Tertulia partnership, visit their website.

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