Congratulations to all ten authors who have made our 2023 Novella-in-Flash award shortlist, selected by our judge, John Brantingham.
Judging is still in progress so while it is fine to share that you are on the short list, please do not identify yourself with your particular work at this stage. Thank you. The winners will announced early in April.
Below, John writes about the process of selecting the shortlist from the longlist of twenty-six novellas we sent him. So many wonderful novellas to choose from in the longlist and there were many more in the over 100 entries we received. Best wishes to all for future publication and thank you to everyone for entering.
Judging this year’s novella-in-flash contest has been a joy. I’m thrilled to see so many writers doing innovative work. People have been using new and effective approaches to point-of-view, structure, and voice. They are using the form in ways that I had never thought of, and I am gaining a new education on new approaches to flash and the novella-in-flash. I have narrowed the field down to the top ten, but as I’ve been reading, I have been imagining the publishers who would pick these works up and publish them as stand alone books. I am not talking about only the manuscripts in the short list either. The novellas on the longlist all have a special something. If you are included on the longlist, I would suggest submitting to a publisher for your work. If you would like help with that, please reach out to me. I will give whatever help or advice I can.
On Saturday 18th March, on the cusp of spring, we returned to 
It’s Valentine’s day next week and what better way is there to celebrate your love for flash fiction than buying the 
Our 23rd Award ends this coming Sunday, 5th February. Results out by the end of February, when the snow drops will certainly be out, if they are not already. And we’re heading again for the Last Minute Club. Those submitting on the final day, get a (virtual) badge. There’s still six days to finish a flash but many of us flash fiction fans frequently ignore the best ways of getting a story ready for submissions. I certainly do. It’s not as if I say a stubborn ‘no’ to a great idea. It’s just that good advice seems hard to remember. 
First up in our lovely 2023 news is that along with Ad Hoc Fiction, we are sponsoring the fifth in-person Flash Fiction Festival weekend, again taking place in Bristol UK, at Trinity College, 14th to 16th July For seasoned and beginner Flash Fiction enthusiasts from around the world. We have 28 flash fiction workshops/talks to choose from, led by well-known flash fiction writers and teachers from the UK, the US, Ireland and Germany, plus flash fiction readings, book launches, bookshop, a Friday daytime flashy fringe fete where there will be fun activites plus authentic paella to order in advance, and a Friday afternoon pre-festival three-hour workshop led by acclaimed writer and teacher Kathy Fish. We also have a bar where Smokelong Quarterly editors Helen Rye and Christopher Allen will be hosting evening karaoke (not to be missed!). The Pokrass Prize for stories of up to 300 words is judged by Meg Pokrass and is open to all those booked.