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.

There are eight short stories dispensers across campus like this one in the Student Union. The short story dispensers feature the work of UNC students and local authors.

Erin Campagna woke up and checked her email, as she does every morning. When Campagna read the message she received from Arts Everywhere’s editorial board, she screamed. Her roommate came in to check on her, and Campagna said, “I’ve been published!”

Bringing a new meaning to the term “snackable content”, in September, the University of Lincoln installed free vending machines dispensing passages from classic novels or poems instead of packets of crisps.

This machine gives you short stories to read for free

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.

Upon entering Earl Gregg Swem Library, most of us head straight to our favorite work areas, in a rush to either secure a table on the first floor for meetings or more casual studying, or to claim a desk on the second and third floors for a quieter study session. No matter the case, in our focused frenzies, we tend to miss the short story dispenser situated to the left of the library entrance along the elevator wall. The little machine, with its backlit panel and dark base, prints short stories from a wide range of genres onto receipt-like slips of paper after readers have selected their preferred length of story, either one, three or five minutes long.

Short story dispensers print 5-minute reads for travelers. (Oakland International Airport)

Put down your phone and find a seat. It’s time to print out a free short story and read it while you wait for your flight. Last month, Oakland International Airport unveiled two short-story dispensers for passengers in both its terminals.

Oakland International Airport (OAK) is partnering with innovative French company Short Édition to provide free Short Story Dispensers to engage passengers while they wait for flights.

Oakland Airport

Improving the passenger experience for Bay Area residents and visitors is key to the vision that drives officials at Oakland International Airport (OAK).  Under the leadership of Director Bryant L. Francis, the airport recently forged a new partnership with innovative French company Short Edition, allowing travelers at OAK to enjoy short stories printed on-demand by Short Story Dispensers.

The machines print a few lines taken randomly from a database of 100,000 titles

Free vending machines that dispense words instead of chocolate have been installed at the University of Lincoln. The two machines print a few paragraphs from a classic novel or a poem taken randomly from a database of 100,000 titles.

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.

Sylvia Tempesta et Christophe Sibieude, associés Fondateurs (photo : J.-M Blache)

Avec 85 bornes actuellement implantées outre-Atlantique sur un total de 300 dans le monde (200 en France, 25 dans des pays anglo-saxons), Short Edition peut se targuer de rencontrer un réel intérêt sur ce territoire où elle a créé une filiale en juin 2018. Ses ambitions ne s’arrêtent pas là puisque Christophe Sibieude, cofondateur de l’entreprise, part s’y installer début 2020 pour promouvoir depuis Philadelphie un modèle de smart city intégrant la littérature à son projet, et créer également une communauté d’auteurs.