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• Food and Travel
• Issue 1

On the Tube with nothing to read. We've all been there. We read the ads, we read them again. We stare at a particular spot on the floor. We yawn. We clock the stations one by one. We desperately try not to pick up the London Lite or its even trashier cousin. But here's a novel idea. If you can't get your hands on one of our free books, print out a copy of Litro, conceived by publisher Mike Fell, pictured left.

A beautifully simple concept, Litro is London's only regular source of creative writing available for free on the Underground. It's produced weekly on a double sided sheet of A4 and collects together short stories written by people like you and me.

"I was on the Tube one day and didn't have a book with me", says founder Mike Fell. "It just occurred to me that if there was some way you could get something or print something that was good to read - you wouldn't have to pick up a freesheet."

The idea of Litro was born. "A lot of people write short stories but not a great deal of people read them", says Mike, who works in publishing. "I thought bringing together the mass supply of short stories would work quite well."

One year - and fifty issues - later, Litro has just celebrated its first birthday. Since last spring, its readers have been treated to everything from poetry to horror and creative non-fiction to fairy tales.

"I publish pretty much everything, though I do try and vary it", says Mike, who estimates that he has featured works by more than fifty budding writers. So has Litro helped anyone rise to fame? "I wouldn't have said single-handedly that I've launched anyone's career," Mike laughs, though he says Litro does crop up on a few writers' biographies.

In fact, some of Litro's contributors are quite well known. Ray Robinson, the author of Electricity - which boasts a 5* rating on amazon.co.uk - appears in Litro's hall of fame as does Danny Rhodes. His first book, Asboville, scooped the 2006 Waterstones' paperback of the year.

If you haven't seen Litro in your travels, don't fret. The concept works on small scale distribution which can vary considerably from week to week. In fact, Mike is even unsure how many copies make it on to the tube.

"It's pretty niche as far as distribution is concerned" he says, pointing to the fact that limited resources mean just two tube stations can be staffed on a Friday morning when each new issue hits the streets. To keep costs to a minimum, helpers - mostly fans of the concept - print and hand out Litro themselves.

But it is this unique format which has been instrumental in Litro's success outside London. It appears in bars and cafés in the East End, around Old Street, on buses in Durham and trams in Sheffield. Mike has even heard from someone handing out copies in South America.

In the long run, Litro hopes to be bigger. It could hit New York or Paris, says Mike. "It would be nice for it to be respected, for people to keep track of it and its writers..."

If you want to avoid the trash on the Tube the message is simple: press 'print' before you depart.

Want to read Litro or, better still, help distribute it? Visit Litro online or  email: litro.ficiton@gmail.com