
What literary title would you re-name your local underground station as?
The Publishers’ Association of Madrid and Metro de Madrid launch the campaign “Choose your destination, Literary Map of Metro de Madrid”. This initiative is designed to encourage reading, as part of the Books in the Street [Libros a la Calle] campaign, which seeks, through games and the participation of all users and lovers of literature, to design an imaginary Literary Map of Metro de Madrid.
15 categories have been created – including universal classics, contemporary Hispano-American literature, historical novels, crime fiction, children’s stories and adolescent literature, graphic novels, travel guides - so that it is the users who decide the names of the stations on the Literary Map through their votes on the web site.
Users can vote for up to 10 book titles per category until 15 August, plus put forward another title if they so wish. The Literary Map of Metro de Madrid will be drawn up with the most voted for book titles. In addition, the aim is to pay a special tribute to female authors. That is why Sol underground station will be called “Ellas escribieron” [These women wrote…], dedicated to all those women who had to hand over their works to their male colleagues over the course of history in order for them to be published, or publish them under a male pseudonym, or who were simply unable to publish their works because they were women.
This initiative will not change the official name of the Metro de Madrid network; it is merely a recreation that will allow us to travel throughout all the possible worlds through the written word, converting our daily journeys into an invitation to read. All those people who take part by voting will go into a draw with five prize vouchers worth 300 euros each that can be cashed in for books at any bookshop in the country, and five parcels of four books each related to Metro de Madrid and a book end in the form of a shaped rail made from original material.