Hundreds of free e-books and e-short stories were made available to subway riders on Thursday, a part of a six-week program launched by the MTA in partnership with the New York City’s public libraries.
Riders who connect to TransitWirelessWifi at their subway station will be given automatic access to the Subway Library, a new site featuring New York City-themed, feminist-focused and various other top reads.
Among the must-reads: Issa Rae’s “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” Cynthia d’Aprix Sweeney’s “The Nest” and Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist.”
To kick off summer reading season, the MTA has also transformed a 10-car train to resemble the New York Public Library’s Rose Main Reading Room. The cars are covered in bookshelf stickers. You can find the train running along the E and F lines, alternating between the 6th Avenue and 8th Avenue corridors.
Stretching beyond the four walls of a traditional library, the new program fits noteworthy fiction, nonfiction, young adult and children reads from the NYPL, Brooklyn and Queens public libraries into your iPhone.
“The Subway Library will encourage adults and children to explore new worlds through reading during their daily commute,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a news release Thursday.
The launch also includes a competition that encourages riders to take photos next to a literary-themed subway car and share it via social media. Those who use the hashtag #SubwayLibrary and tag @TWWiFi have the chance to win an Amazon Kindle Voyage or prizes from the NYPL.
“This summer it will be easier than ever to ride the M train with Patti Smith, visit the waterfront with Joseph Mitchell, or get to know the Brooklyn of Walt Whitman … and the many other authors who have immortalized the borough in prose,” Brooklyn Public Library President and CEO Linda E. Johnson said in the release.
The Subway Library’s e-book collection is also available via the SimplyE mobile app and on subwaylibrary.com.
