A short story dispenser at WaterPark Place lets users choose how many minutes they want to read then spits out a story for free. copyright D. Dundas

Looking for a story to read your kid before bed? Don’t want to look at your device over your coffee break? Need a read for the commute? Near the foot of Bay Street and Queens Quay, just outside the food court, near the pedestrian overpass to Union Station, you’ll notice a machine. It was installed just about two months ago by a forward-looking team from Oxford Properties, which runs the building, led by general manager Beverly Tay.

Short Story Dispenser at Lincoln University - A snack for your mind - SWNS

This university has become the first in the United Kingdom to install vending machines that are designed to dispense free short stories for students to read on campus—and any writer will soon be able to submit their own prose.

Hier, l’Hôtel Monsieur Jean était officiellement inauguré. En plein cœur du quartier historique du Vieux-Québec, Monsieur Jean étonne à plusieurs niveaux. L’emplacement, central pour les touristes qui visitent la capitale, offre à la fois une vue sur le fleuve et sur les célèbres remparts de la ville. Que ce soit pour une nuit ou pour un plus long séjour, l’une des 49 suites vous impressionnera et vous accueillera à bras ouverts. Ce nouveau projet au cœur de la ville mérite assurément le détour, ne serait-ce que pour venir admirer le hall ou récupérer une histoire romantique au distributeur d’histoires courtes @Short Edition.

Professor Mary Stuart launches Lincoln Short Story vending machine. Photo: University of Lincoln

Two innovative new vending machines were launched at the University of Lincoln this week, but instead of the usual chocolate and crisps it will dispense poetry.

This vending machine dispenses food for thought. It prints quickly. The paper is biodegradable. It’s available 24 hours a day. There is no charge.

Se per caso quest’estate vi trovaste nella metropolitana di Londra, all’aeroporto internazionale Charles De Gaulle di Parigi, oppure in vacanza a Singapore, in Australia o addirittura negli Stati Uniti, potreste imbattervi negli Short Story Dispenser, i distributori automatici di racconti.

In this age of fast-paced information and media consumption, almost everything is at your fingertips. With this program, short stories from up-and-coming authors are just one click away, but not in the way you think. It’s not an app on your phone or a website—it’s a machine.

B.C University gets unique vending machine

It's a short story dispenser and it's creating a lot of buzz at Capilano University! Isabelle Raghem is speaking with excited students.

Immaginate un distributore automatico che invece di caffè eroghi racconti brevi. Gratis, per di più. Non è una favola, ma l’idea - diventata realtà - di una casa editrice francese. Il primo distributore ha fatto la sua comparsa nel 2016 all’aeroporto Charles de Gaulle di Parigi.

This freaky french vending machine at the SB public market wants you to push its buttons. You've nothing to fear but literature!

Francis Ford Coppola—writer, director, producer, Brando-wrangler—is a raving fan of the short story. In 1997 (for instance) he launched the much-garlanded literary and art vehicle Zoetrope: All-Story. So it was that when Coppola learned of a nutty Roald-Dahl-like gizmo whose minimalist three buttons promised a new approach to literature, his famous auteur beard broke into a grin and he dove in with brio. “He’d found us through his daughter in Paris and was our first client in the US,” says Kristan Leroy, export director for French publisher Short Édition. “The first installation in the U.S. was at his café Zoetrope in San Francisco.”

With more than 5,000 stories distributed during a test-run tour in area libraries, “short story machines” are predicted to be a hit in the fall.

From the Iowa City Public Library to the Marion Public Library, a literary kiosk has made monthly stops in Iowa City and area libraries as part of its “Creative Corridor” tour. It will make its final stop in May at the Eastern Iowa Airport. As part of a trial period before the official, permanent implementation of more “short story machines” this spring, the literary kiosk has been delighting library-goers by dispensing one-, three-, and five-minute stories on receipt-like slips of paper, said Amy Chen, English & American literature librarian at the University of Iowa Main Library.