Penguin unveils book vending machine at secondary school

Penguin has unveiled a book vending machine for students at a secondary school in Scotland. The vending machine has been installed at Linlithgow Academy and will contain 70 different titles from Penguin’s Lit in Colour reading lists.

Linlithgow Academy was chosen from more than 800 applications from schools across the UK, and it is hoped the vending machine will contribute to the school’s love of reading by making books more accessible and diversifying the range of titles available. The machine is free to use and will be managed by teachers via a token system. Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison and Arundhati Roy are among the authors available to read and it is hoped the vending machine will help students discover more brilliant books by authors of colour.  

Penguin has donated more than 900 books for the machine and Picador has donated 150 copies of Jackie Kay’s books, including May Day and Red Dust Road. 

Kay took part in an in-conversation event at the school with Dr Lesley Nelson-Addy, education manager at the UK’s leading race equality think tank The Runnymede Trust.

They discussed Kay’s newest poetry collection May Day (Picador) and her journey into writing, before Jackie performed a reading from the collection and answered questions from students and teachers. 

Dr Zaahida Nabagereka, senior social impact manager and head of Lit in Colour, said: "The vending machine is part of Penguin’s ongoing Lit in Colour campaign, and aims to make the teaching and learning of English literature in UK schools more inclusive of writers of colour. As books are like windows and mirrors, it is vital that all children have access to a diverse range of stories and authors that reflect our wonderfully diverse modern British society."

Picador, publisher of Jackie Kay, also released a statement which read: "Picador is delighted to be able to support the brilliant work being done by Lit in Colour. We are incredibly proud to be Jackie Kay’s publisher, and this is a wonderful opportunity to share her work with young readers. We are committed to reaching the widest readership for our books and authors and schools lie at the heart of this ambition."

The initiative follows the launch of a similar Penguin vending machine at Exeter St Davids station in March 2023.