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Forget snacks, French vending machines offer free short stories
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Initiated by Grenoble-based publisher Short Édition, the machines drop short stories on paper scrolls, for free. (www.instagram.com/teleramasortir/File)
I
magine waiting alone for the bus, with little to do other than scrolling down the endless stream of social media on your large-screen smartphone.
People idling at French train stations may now have a more interesting option: reading a short story at the push of a button on a vending machine.
Initiated by Grenoble-based publisher Short Édition, the project gives readers free short stories, which come out of the machine in the form of a paper scroll. They can opt for either a one, three or five-minute long French-language tale by simply clicking the corresponding button.
“We thought it might be fun to have a distributor of stories just like a vending machine. The paper gives it a real breath of fresh air, it is much more unexpected than a smartphone," Short Édition director Christophe Sibieude told The Telegraph.
(Read also: Singapore introduces book vending machines)
After first emerging in Grenoble, a city in southeastern France at the foot of the French Alps, the vending machines can now be found in 32 locations across the country, such as at train stations, cafes, museums and libraries, all courtesy of organizations that bought or rent the machines for around €500 (US$561) a month and make them free to the public. Up to 11 of the machines are available in Paris, and more are said to come before the year ends.
The stand-alone stories, which range in genre from romance to horror, were written by around 5,000 anonymous authors who participated in a competition held by Short Édition. A similar machine in San Francisco reportedly produces tales in English. (kes)
