Traveler's Edition
In today’s technology obsessed world, this French initiative is going back to basics. Across the country, short story vending machines are popping up at train stations, libraries, cafes and more!
The project is run by French publishing house Short Édition with the aim of encouraging people to read and write short stories, as well as promoting the authors in the Short Édition community.
The concept is simple: vending machines which dispense short stories for free, for everyone from commuters to café goers to read! There is no screen; instead, readers can select from three buttons corresponding to how many minutes the story will take to read – 1, 3 or 5 – before their reading material is dispensed on a scroll of paper.
The first short story vending machine was set up in Grenoble, France and there are now over 30 across the country. Here in the US, you can head to San Francisco to experience the initiative – owned by director Francis Ford Coppola, San Francisco’s café Café Zoetrope has one of its own.
Check out where you can find one of the vending machines below:
What do you think about the project?
