Sistah Scifi in Oakland, Calif., has launched two vending machines featuring speculative fiction written by Black and Indigenous authors, Boing Boing reported.
The first vending machine, located in Oaklandia Cafe x Bakery in downtown Oakland, went live last week and a second opened soon after in the coffee shop Mixed in Mill Creek, Wash. The two vending machines feature titles like Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor, Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed and Stasia Burrington and The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae.
The book vending machines have been supported by a crowdfunding campaign launched by Sistah Scifi founder Isis Asare and her team. The campaign has so far raised more than $15,000 and Sistah Scifi plans to launch at least two other vending machines in Black-owned cafes around the country.
The network of book-vending machines aims to help fulfill Sistah Scifi's goal of doubling "the number of Black and Indigenous speculative fiction writers on the New York Times Bestseller List."