Short story 'vending machines' to be installed in Grenoble, France
Publisher Short Édition has made over 600 short stories from their library available to purchase
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Your support makes all the difference.While the printed short story may have become less popular in recent years due to the rise of the smartphone, the novel’s younger sibling is about to gain a new lease of life in France.
The southern city of Grenoble will soon become home to numerous ‘vending machines’ that dispense short stories for you to read on your commute.
Short Édition has made over 600 short stories from their library available to purchase, each one falling into one of three options - one, two or five minute reads.
The publishing company is primarily online, with a community of over 141,000 subscribers and 1,100 authors. It was co-founded by Quentin Plepé whose team came up with the idea while waiting around an office snack machine.
"The city was on board from the beginning," Plepé told Fast Company. "What they really liked was the fact that the dispensers distribute culture through the city in an original way.
“Stories are an important part of our life. We need them to construct who we are as individuals. More and more people don't take the time anymore to sit and read a book. This is a way to have a little 'bite' of a story, just for a couple of minutes.”
Grenoble is the only city set to have the cylinder devices installed, but the publishing company hopes they will expand soon.
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