Kelly Pedro

The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2026! - SmokeLong Quarterly The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction (The Smokey) is now an annual competition that celebrates and compensates excellence in flash. Our first grand prize winner in 2018 was “Whale Fall” by ...

We're reading for the 2026 SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction. Prize pot: $4700. Be sure to read the previous years' issues before you enter. www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...

The March Micro Marathon 2026 - SmokeLong Quarterly Please book by February 20th! In its third year, The March Micro Marathon will be, as usual, a prompt-a-day whirlwind for 24 days. You’ll exchange drafts of micro fiction, non-fiction, and prose poetr...

Tomorrow, Feb 20, is the soft deadline to register for SmokeLong's March Micro Marathon! We'd love to get everyone into the workshop for a week of preparation before we hit the ground running on March 2. Our first webinar (with Ingrid Jendrzejewski is Feb 28. www.smokelong.com/the-march-mi...

Flash Fiction: You’re Twelve Forever by Lila-Rose Beckford At In-N-Out, she asks for her wallet. You open the glovebox: half-empty ibuprofen, Sephora receipts, a bobby pin. Nothing that could save a life.

"You once read that fear makes you remember things wrong. You remember what hasn’t happened yet. You remember bracing for impact." Stunning flash by Lila-Rose Beckford in @jmwwjournal.bsky.social jmwwblog.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/f...

Really thrilled to be joining the flash team @jmwwjournal.bsky.social!

I love this interview with @kimmagowan.bsky.social on @jmwwjournal.bsky.social. If you are a flash writer/reader/teacher, don't miss it. #FlashFiction #WritingCommunity #Writers

These Things Are Not Always Up to Us | CAS - Department of English - Publications "These Things Are Not Always Up to Us" by Kelly Pedro.

I'm really proud of have a new short story out with the lovely publication NELLE in their themed She Persisted issue. If you haven't checked out this gem of a literary magazine, I highly recommend it. Here is an excerpt of my story, "These Things Are Not Always Up to Us": www.uab.edu/cas/englishp...

Blue flier listing 12 story titles, as the 2026 Blue Frog Finalists.

The 2026 Blue Frog finalists have been selected!

Congrats to these 12 authors! (but don't mention which story is yours) and best of luck! @camilleuadams.bsky.social has some really difficult decisions to make!

Oh Erin, this hurts my heart! What is WRONG with people??? I'm so sorry you had to wake up to that.

What an incredible list. And if you haven't already, check out Lauren Kardos' story "What we talk about when we talk about Fight Club" in Milk Candy Review. It's amazing and officially on the required reading list for any flash courses I teach! milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/08/14/w...

"If she takes a gap year to backpack around Europe, will she have a baby on time (before all her eggs die)?" I love this!

File a Complaint Online - National NewsMedia Council

www.mediacouncil.ca/complaint/fi...

I get tired of saying it, but I’ll say it again: the nature of oppression in America is that they workshop it first on Black, Latino, Asian & Native people.

But it is always, in the end, coming for everyone.

Flash Fiction: Laika by Sydney Koeplin I think about how the technicians kissed Laika’s wet nose before closing the hatch. How she trusted them, and they killed her anyway.

"I don’t know how someone could think about Laika, plucked off the Moscow streets just to be shot into space, and not cry for her." Beautiful flash by Sydney Koeplin in @jmwwjournal.bsky.social jmwwblog.wordpress.com/2026/01/28/f...

While independent bookstores are giving out free whistles, hosting protest sign making events, and donating proceeds to mutual aid, Amazon is *checks notes* providing technology that assists ICE in their terrorizing of communities.

Independent bookstores deserve your support. Amazon does not.

Some incredible flash is on this shortlist (including one of my faves that will become required reading in my course). I don't envy @smokelong.bsky.social editors who have to narrow it down further. Grateful to still have two stories on this list!

Wonderland Road: A Novel A compelling new novel about three people looking for a…

New novel from Carrianne Leung. If you haven't read That Time I Loved You, you must. #canlit www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

One week left!

Guelph’s Blue Built Home program is making every drop count

This important issue is maybe not getting as much attention as it should. Guelph was facing the same issue, but has been turning it around. One of my journalism students, Adam Simmons, wrote about it. Perhaps a useful case study for Waterloo Region? dmjzone.ca/guelphs-blue...

Aw thank you Belinda!

I'm still not sure how it happened but I'll take it!

The best thing I ever did was take a SmokeLong workshop in 2023 (there's been many since, and all have led to work that I'm proud of). I'm now writing a novel where one timeline is in flash. Congrats to everyone on this long list. I'm grateful to have three stories on it.

if you’re feeling inspired by the photos from minneapolis,drop a note of appreciation at www.standwithminnesota.com/send-a-love-... !

This is tomorrow! Hope to see you!

We're always looking...

"Art is compulsive, tenacious. Time contracts, my fingers smooth, blend, layer. We aren’t flies you can squash, I whisper." Part list story, part puzzle, all gorgeous. Read @belindarowe.bsky.social's latest flash in Flash The Court (link below).

I have three new flashes in wonderful Frigg! All workshopped at @smokelong.bsky.social. Grateful thanks also to @mczyzniejewski.bsky.social for reading drafts. The first:

friggmagazine.com/issuesixtyfi...

The Village The village with all of the flash writers

Are you in need of a village? We are The Village with All of The Flash Writers. And here's the invitation link:
smokelong-quarterly.mn.co/plans/191340...

December Workshop Celebration 2025 - SmokeLong Quarterly Each month we celebrate our current and previous workshop participants’ publications reported to us through Submittable (The SmokeLong Workshop Prize). Each of the publications below, with the excepti...

Help us celebrate the more than 60 publications reported to us by our workshop participants in December! Onward, trousers!
www.smokelong.com/december-wor...

It's the most writing fun you'll have all year!