Bedside Stories

A relative returned from a European vacation, bringing with her a small, handy-sized book--one of a series entitled "Bedside Stories". The scanned images of the cover of this particular book (with the inner flap unfolded), a brief introduction, and the Table of Contents are above.

The stories came from a contest that NH Hoteles sponsors, the NH Vargas Llosa Prize for Short Stories (scroll down to the bottom of the link to read about it). A quote:

"The NH Mario Vargas Llosa Short Story Awards, with a prize money of 60,000 euros, aims to foster reading and literary creation, to prove support for contemporary writers, and contribute to the promotion of cultural leisure offerings.

The prize-winning stories are published in English, Spanish, and German and distributed in all the rooms of the chain's hotels, as a free service for customers.

Since 1996, NH Hoteles has had some three million books printed and distributed... More than 10,000 writers from all over Spain and from 28 other countries on different continents have taken part in previous competitions."

What a novel idea, providing hotel guests not just with towels, stationery, or newspapers (oh, and a comfortable place to sleep and wash up!), but stories to read! Stories that come from a contest that is sponsored by the hotel chain. I've read through a couple of the stories already, and they have a distinctly European flavour about them.

Wouldn't this be a good idea for the local hotel industry? Perhaps a local hotel can sponsor a contest, print and publish a book of "Bedside Stories" (translated into the proper language suited to their guests of course), filled with tales written by Pinoys that reflect something about the Philippines. Guests can bring these books back to their homelands, and they can serve as a reminder of their visit here.

Just thinking.