Traveling Short Story Dispensers Land at the Capitol Hill and Southwest Branches

Do you like “choose your own adventure” stories, the “I’m feeling lucky” button on Google and mystery bags? Then you’ll love ordering up a short story at one of the Library’s two traveling short story dispensers, which have just taken up residence at the Capitol Hill and Southwest branches. Created and curated by the French publishing company Short Edition, the story dispensers are slim kiosk-like machines that print out a tiny tale (ranging from a 1 to 5-minute read) with a simple wave of your hand (the dispensers are contactless). The stories are printed on a receipt-like piece of paper you can take with you. They are free, like everything at the Library, and you don’t need a Library card to use the dispenser; just wave, grab and read.

The dispensers have spent time at the Station Coffeeshop on Beacon Hill, at the Central Library and at the Fremont Branch. In early June, they were moved to the Capitol Hill (425 Harvard Ave. E.) and Southwest branches (9010 35th Ave. S.W.), where they’ll stay until August. They’ve already been seeing a lot of use, according to Library staff. In honor of Pride Month, the dispensers have added a collection of Pride-related stories, which you can order by selecting the middle button on the kiosk. “This collection aims at bringing LGBTQ+ literature into the spotlight through a colorful compilation of short stories and poems curated to celebrate Pride month and showcase LGBTQ+ voices in all their glorious diversity,” says Short Edition. (Short Edition notes that certain texts in the Pride collection are intended for a mature audience. The story collection in general includes a wide range of genres and is geared to adults, although many are fine for older children.)

The story dispensers also include a collection of stories written exclusively by Seattle-area authors, available by selecting the “Local Writers” button to the right.  Find stories from authors such as Kristen Millares Young, a finalist for the 2021 Washington State Book Award for Creative Nonfiction and a writing workshop instructor for classes at the Library; as well as Katie Kurtz and Angie McCullagh, participants of the Library’s 2023 Writers’ Room Residency, which provides a secure and shared writing space on Level 9 of the Central Library. Short Edition has installed more than 300 dispensers around the world in unexpected places such as airports, train stations and museums. Writers can submit stories for consideration on Short Edition’s website at https://short-edition.com/en. The Short Edition story dispenser was made possible by a generous grant from The Seattle Public Library Foundation.

Pride Month stories available on the Short Edition story dispensers

• Camille Clark: “Open Wide”
• Winter Bel: “Dallas Fireflies”
• Joel Shoemaker: “Motherese”
• Avra Margariti: “Cimmerian”
• Lysander Champion: “Moondust”
• Nina Xiong: “Do You Think the Dinosaurs Went to Heaven?”
• F.C. Pierce: “My Horse of a Different Color”
• Cameron Quinn: “From Sailors’ Bones”
• Devin S. Turk: “Sensitive”
• Hugh J. O’Donnell: “Masks”
• Angela Teagardner: “The Agony and the Ecstasy”
• Sydney Sackett: “There Was An Old Lady”
• Sydney Sackett: “Asymbiotic”
• Joel Shoemaker: “Cost of Living”
• Erica Johnson: “Rainbows”
• Christopher X. Ryan: “The Pugilist in Repose on His Porch, Most Sundays”
• Avra Margariti: “Darkroom Liaisons”
• Despy Boutris: “On Being Gay in Yemassee”
• Die Booth: “She Don’t Fade”
• Die Booth: “Cracks in the Wall”
• Eleanor Garran: “Neutral Masks”
• Abigail Swoboda: “Overpass”
• Holden Sheppard: “Beanstalk”
• Avra Margariti: “Curious Facts About Octopuses (And You and I)”
• Avra Margariti: “I Would Have Known You Anywhere”
• Avra Margariti: “Coping Mechanisms of the Supernatural Variety”
• Avra Margariti: “Chaim’s Golem”
• Avra Margariti: “Sites by the Ocean”
• Hannah Rousselot: “Whispers from the Sand”
• Hannah Rousselot: “Flipside”
• Jay Anderson: “Moments”
• Kathy Anderson: “She Squared”
• L.N. Hunter: “Maggie and Mary”
• Jules Hogan: “How I Learned to Stay Alive”
• Nathan Alling Long: “A Box of Things”
• J.P.: “The Phoenix”