--- title: Emma Watson Is Hiding Free Books Again—This Time In New York description: The 'Beauty and the Beast' actress is distributing copies of her global book club's latest selection, 'Mom & Me & Mom,' around NYC subways. canonical: https://time.com/4565572/emma-watson-is-hiding-free-books-in-new-york-citys-subway-now/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-09T22:55:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:38:34.392Z og:title: Emma Watson Is Hiding Free Books Again—This Time In New York og:description: The 'Harry Potter' actress is distributing free books in the NYC subway. og:url: https://time.com/4565572/emma-watson-is-hiding-free-books-in-new-york-citys-subway-now/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Emma Watson Is Hiding Free Books Again—This Time In New York twitter:description: The 'Harry Potter' actress is distributing free books in the NYC subway. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Emma Watson Is Hiding Free Books in New York City's Subway Now > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0e767343-74d6-4bf3-9af9-06bc61306c0b&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 9, 2016 10:55 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 9, 2016 10:55 PM UTC New Yorkers, watch out for sightings of Emma Watson and free books today on your daily subway commute: the _Harry Potter_ actress, women’s rights advocate, and bona fide book fairy is distributing copies of _Mom & Me & Mom_, a Maya Angelou autobiography, around the city’s transit system as part of her “Our Shared Shelf” [global feminist book club](http://time.com/4172664/join-emma-watsons-feminist-book-club/?iid=sr-link5). Last week, [Watson was seen popping around](http://time.com/4554660/emma-watson-instagram-book-club/?iid=sr-link2) London’s underground doing the same thing, dropping copies of the paperback for passersby with sharp eyes to snag at will. For her efforts on our side of the pond, the [upcoming _Beauty and the Beast_](http://time.com/4344599/beauty-and-the-beast-emma-watson-walt-disney-company/?iid=sr-link1) star partnered with [Books on the Subway](http://booksonthesubway.com/about), a free-form grassroots book exchange. And her activity hasn’t gone unnoticed; even _Harry Potter_ author J.K. Rowling sent her a message of support. > [](https://twitter.com/EmmaWatson/status/796443093709029377) > [](https://twitter.com/EmmaWatson/status/796477737217232896) > [](https://twitter.com/BooksSubway/status/796447662035738624) > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/796443476682567680) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4565572/emma-watson-is-hiding-free-books-in-new-york-citys-subway-now/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4565572/emma-watson-is-hiding-free-books-in-new-york-citys-subway-now/"},"headline":"Emma Watson Is Hiding Free Books in New York City's Subway Now","datePublished":"2016-11-09T22:55:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:34.392Z","description":"It's going international","url":"https://time.com/4565572/emma-watson-is-hiding-free-books-in-new-york-citys-subway-now/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities","Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4565572/emma-watson-is-hiding-free-books-in-new-york-citys-subway-now/","name":"Emma Watson Is Hiding Free Books in New York City's Subway Now"}}]}] ```