LITRO is a free monthly publication, distributed at Underground stations and a variety of shops, galleries, bars, &c., which, each issue, features one or more pieces of short fiction. I choose stuff that I like (obviously), but which I think will appeal to someone who is on their way to work. That is: not too long or too abstract, not too outwardly horrific or gratuitous, but which at the same time is not just a bland extension of your morning television, and which takes you to places you normally don't think about visiting when travelling on the Underground. Anyway, that’s the aim.
The original printable, advert free version of LITRO is available on this site, while a 50,000 copy monthly run is published in London by Ocean Media (funded by advertising).
Why?
Because there's more to life than Metro. I like to read a book, but sometimes my pockets just aren't large enough, or my journey long enough.
First I had the idea of printing a tiny volume of out-of-copyright short stories, folk tales, &c. that could be carried around with you constantly and read during emergencies when jumping on the Tube to the other side of London with nothing to look at but the lawyers’/travel agents’/air conditioners’ posters. Then one day I finished Dubliners on the way into Mornington Crescent and was still elsewhere when I sat down at my desk and looked out at Camden High Street, and thought how great it would be to access genuinely affecting stories like those on a regular basis.
So I added together that need for reading matter and that desire to be lifted up and out a little, and LITRO was left. I started calling for submissions in late 2005, and the first issue was published in April 2006. It ran on a weekly basis for over a year, before going fortnightly in July 2007. The Ocean Media version began printing in September 2007.
LITRO is a serial publication with the International Standard Serial Number:
ISSN 1750-6603
Social and environment responsibility
LITRO is printed locally on recycled paper
A notice is included reminding people either to keep, pass on or recycle their copies
Its small size means people are probably more likely to hang onto it than to leave it behind on trains, as compared to other free newspapers
The lack of adverts (in the printable online version) means more words per page than other free newspapers, making it more paper efficient
It is also available online, so you don't have to print at all if you don't want to
It encourages people to travel by Underground!
The proportion of any profit from the printed version (after print/distribution costs) due to the editor will be donated to the National Literacy Trust. The tool below shows how much has been raised so far, and allows you add you donate to the NLT too.
