This French City Has Vending Machines That Give Short Stories Instead Of Junk Food. How Cool!

Not food, but food for thought.

If you happen to travel to Grenoble,France and find a black and orange cylinder with the words “Distributeur d’histoires courtes” under a glass panel, with the buttons 1, 3 and 5, then press any. A long ticket-like strip of paper will be generated. But these are not tickets; these are short stories that you can devour in 1, 3 and 5 minutes respectively.

How cool is that, right?

 

The city currently has 8 short-story vending machines at the city hall, the tourism office, and in libraries and social centers that were launched by local publishing startup, Short Edition.

The machines can be rented for €500(₹ 39,000/-) for a month.

 

With France being a nation of writers and having a rich literary history, it wasn’t news that 10,000 stories were printed in the first month after the machines were inaugurated.

 

The machine provides 600 original stories that can be printed and read.

Christophe Sibieude, the co-founder and head of Short Edition said, “The written word isn’t dead. Smartphones have blurred the limits between our professional life and our distractions. The paper format provides a break from omnipresent screens. People may not have reacted so strongly to our vending machines six years ago when smartphones hadn’t become essential to all parts of our lives yet.”

 

A poll in 2013, by research firm Ifop, found that 17% of the country’s population had written a manuscript that was unpublished. Short Edition has been providing a platform for amateur writers since 2011 and out of the 10,000 stories written, the most popular ones were selected for the vending machine.

The authors get paid 10% of the rent paid to Short Edition, a pretty decent rate for French publishing.

 

Currently, Grenoble is the only city where the vending machines are available.

Christophe Sibieude, and the other co-founder, Quentin Pleplé said, “We didn’t think there would be such an enthusiasm.” But Sibieude who had visited New York in 1989, and seen the lines at the coffee shops has a vision and adds, “Imagine a distributor in every Starbucks.”

 

Now wouldn’t that be actually amazing? Coffee and a short story to keep you company. The best.

News Source: NewYorker
Cover Image Sources 1 & 2