The Recipe
May 2019 The Recipe, a story published as part of the Short Edition Story Dispensary at the Calgary Public Library
https://calgary.short-edition.com/story/the-recipe
When you order a latte at Lukes inside the new Central Library, consider whether you’d like a one-minute, three-minute, or five-minute story with it. The library’s new short story dispenser is located right next to the café. Step up, punch your selected time button on the machine, gather up the ribbon of paragraphs it doles out and enjoy!
Rosemary Griebel, service design lead for the library, heard about the short story dispenser created by French publishing house Short Édition and decided Calgary needed one, too. Installed in February, it is one of only four in Canada, the other three being at the Edmonton International Airport, North Vancouver’s Capilano University and a Quebec City hotel.
To ensure the machine offered Calgary voices, Griebel and Lisa Murphy Lamb, director of the creative-writing hub Loft 112, reached out to local writers for submissions. Writers of all stripes enthusiastically wrote or bent already existing fiction into 2,600-, 4,800- or 8,000-character stories. As a result, the library’s short story machine launched with 47 local stories, in addition to works from all over the world. By the end of the year Griebel says they should have around 100.
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