SmokeLong Quarterly

I have so much to tell you. The last couple of months have been a whirlwind in many ways. We’ve all just come back from AWP where we didn’t get to spend enough time with 12 of our editors! Our off-site reading was devoted to celebrating them, and we had a blast. I wish we could have spent more time together, but AWP just isn’t long enough. If I wasn’t able to give you a hug, I’m so sorry. We decided not to have a booth in Baltimore so that we could have more time to walk around the bookfair and talk to more people, and we still missed so many.

We are around 2/3 through The March Micro Marathon with 125 writers exchanging work daily until March 25^th. The March Micro Marathon—in its third year—is always lots of fun and results in so much published work each year.

We’ve recently started a free online community called The Village (with all of the flash writers) where flash writers around the world can get information about flash happenings, flash journals, and more. Run by SmokeLong for the global flash community, The Village regularly features interviews with flash journal editors, and we’re working on a space for teachers who use flash in their classrooms. We’re just getting started, so there’s lots to come. If you want an invitation to The Village, follow @heyflashvillage.bsky.social on Bluesky and click on the invitation link pinned to the account. It’s free.

Until May 10^th, we’re reading for The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction. The grand prize is $2500, second place $1000, third place $500, and all finalists are paid $150. The grand prize winner is automatically nominated for the Pushcart Prize anthology, Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, the O. Henry Prize, and any other award we deem appropriate.

And we’re busy planning the fifth installment of A SmokeLong Summer. Five years! Time passes so quickly. It’s hard to believe we started our year-round community workshop SmokeLong Fitness with A SmokeLong Summer in 2022. Look for details very soon about our 2026 summer program. This year the theme is The Global Flash Village.

Finally, what we’re all here for: Issue 91 is here! As always it takes a village to produce our issues. We are so grateful to all the people who’ve given their time, energy and talents to make this issue a thrill to read.

The cover art is by Anyanwu David, also known as Scribe The Artisan, a Nigerian conceptual and visual artist. His work is often inspired by personal internal struggles, emotional conflict, and the broader impact of life’s challenges on the human experience. A recurring theme in his art is a deep respect and appreciation for African culture, which he strives to represent with authenticity and reverence. His art seeks to evoke feelings of serenity, solitude, and calmness. At its core, his practice is about the freedom to express himself through photography, and he aims to inspire others, spark reflection, and create meaningful connections.

Onward,

Christopher