Customer Experience

San Francisco transit kiosks dispense short stories, launch story contest

Image courtesy of the Bay Area Rapid Transit.

May 24, 2022

Rapid transit riders with a literary bent in San Francisco can compete for a $200 honorarium and the chance to have their stories dispensed in the system's kiosks, according to a press release.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit, which offers riders short stories dispensed from dispensers at certain transit stations, has called for entries for its first short story fiction contest, called "BART Lines," in celebration of the transit system's 50th anniversary.

Starting June 1, BART invites riders to submit short stories of 7,500 characters or less that revolve around the theme of "motion."

Finalists will be selected by a panel of Bay Area literary icons, including Daniel Handler, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Ishmael Reed, JK Fowler and Annalee Newitz.

Authors ages 18 and up who reside in one of the five counties where BART operates — San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara — are invited to submit stories.

Thirty finalists will receive a $200 honorarium.

The finalists will also be invited to read their stories on the Short Edition website, as well as in BART's four short edition short story dispensers, currently located at Balboa Park, Richmond, Pleasant Hill and Fruitvale stations.

Finalists will also be invited to participate in a reading at a BART station with Litquake in October.

Contest submissions open June 1 at 12 a.m. and close on or before June 30 at 11:59 p.m.

The submissions page will close after 400 submissions.

BART riders can use touchless dispensers to get 1-, 3- or 5-minute reads in a partnership with Short Edition, the company that makes the dispensers and curates the stories for the transit stations.