Author Archives: Jude

Friday Paella!

You are welcome to arrive from 1.00 pm onwards on Friday 12th July for the in-person flash fiction festival, 12th -14th July at Trinity College, Bristol.

What’s happening on Friday afternoon this year?

From 2.00 pm – 5.00 pm another fantastic three hour pre-fest workshop by acclaimed teacher and writer from the US, Kathy Fish. Open to festival participants and those who can’t make the whole weekend (£50) This workshop is now sold out.

Cole Beauchamp at paella stall in 2023

We have arranged for Luciano from https://www.paellacaluciano.com/ in Bristol/Portishead to come and cook fresh paella for us again. Advanced booking for this is now closed (19th June) I will ask Luciano to make a few extra if any latecomers want one. Vegan paella, £12.00. Chicken paella £14. (both Gluten Free). Contact us asap if you would like one of these

There is no other catering on Friday afternoon, but you can also bring a picnic to eat in the extensive grounds. The bar will be open and free coffee and tea is available (please bring your own re-usuable mug) Thanks.

Other Friday Events:

Bar (run by Trinity College)

Karaoke ready to go in 2019

Badger’s Pouch, the bar, will be open from 2.00 pm
After the Friday evening readings and mini-book launches, Karaoke entertainment will be available from 8.30 pm in the bar, organised by Helen Rye and Christopher Allen. Chill out room for quiet chats also available.
Bookshop
The festival bookshop will be open from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm in the Tyndall’s room, by Reception in the main building. There will also be a meet and greet session for newcomers in the bookshop and also the bar.
Official Welcome, Flash fiction readings and mini book launches 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm in Dining Room.

Accommodation options

Outside Trinity College

The 2026 flash fiction festival will be held at Trinity College, a Theological College, in the Stoke Bishop area of Bristol.

STOP PRESS: AS OF MAY 10th there is one bunk bed room (two beds) available on the Trinity campus suitable for a single person or maybe two friends who don’t mind bunk beds. It’s bnb (basic breakfast and shared bathroom) plus 15 camping spots with facilities in the grassy area in front of the college
The rooms are bnb (continental breakfast).
You can also book your room in Trinity College for Thursday and Sunday nights .
More details and for a link to the booking form on our booking page

The Area and Other Accommodation Options (thank you to former co-festival director, Diane Simmons, for compiling this list originally. Updated by 2023 team member, Damhnait Monaghan 2023 and Sara Hills, 2026).
Stoke Bishop is a pleasant area not far from the Downs (a large open park land)) and is under two miles from the Clifton suspension bridge, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. If you don’t mind a walk, Clifton Village is about a 30 minute walk from Trinity College and is a beautiful area of Bristol to stay in. It has quite a few hotels and guest houses. Please note that areas of Bristol are very hilly.

The city centre too has lots of hotels to suit all budgets, as well as some hostels. It is particularly attractive round the waterside area. The city centre is approx 2.4 miles from Trinity College. Redland and Henleaze areas are also attractive parts of Bristol not too far away.
There is a plenty of free parking in the grounds of Trinity College. Please note that traffic can be very heavy in Bristol.

You may find this website helpful: https://visitbristol.co.uk/

Caravans, Campervans and Tents
There are 6 available caravan/campervan spots at Trinity College for people with their own caravans/campervans. There are electricity points. The cost is £20 per night. Toilets and showers available.

There is space for 20 tents in Trinity grounds (without electricity).The cost is £20 per night. Toilets and showers available.
If you would like to book a place for your van or wish to camp, you can book a space via our booking form.

Other Caravan sites:
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/townlisting.asp?town=Bristol
Airbnb
Airbnb is a good way of finding affordable accommodation in the Stoke Bishop area. If you are unsure about the area, please email for advice.

Hotels, Hostels and Bed and Breakfasts

Please note that I have not visited any of these hotels listed below, so can’t vouch for them being any good, but the ratings system should help. Please check my estimated walking times are correct before booking. I would recommend going on www.booking.com, www.trivago.co.uk or www.expedia.co.uk as bargains can be found.
Hostels
Bristol Youth Hostel, 14 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA, United Kingdom. 2.5 miles, 55 mins walk https://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/yha-bristol Private rooms available. Dorms not available at time of writing, but may be open by July.
Couchsurfing:
https://www.couchsurfing.com/places/europe/england/bristol

Hotels, Bed and Breakfasts and Apartments

Nearest to Trinity College (within 2 miles)

The Washington, Clifton. 1.7 miles from Trinity – 35 mins walk. Available from booking.com. Described as ‘cheap and cheerful’. More info from booking.com & also available on visit Bristol site: https://visitbristol.co.uk/accommodation/the-washington-p7201

The Rodney House Hotel, 4 Rodney Place, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4HY – 1.7 miles and 35 mins walk from Trinity College. Available from booking.com. Their own website here: https://cliftonhotels.com/bristol-hotels/rodney

The Channings Hotel, Clifton Bristol – 31 min walk. You can book direct from their site or on booking.com etc. https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/avon/channings-hotel/

Number 38, Clifton, 38 Upper Belgrave Rd, Bristol BS8 2XN. Less than a mile. Also available from booking.com About a 17 min walk. Hotel website: http://www.number38clifton.com

Victoria Square Hotel, Clifton. 1.8 miles. 37 mins, http://www.victoriasquarehotel.co.uk/en/default.html
Also available on booking.com etc.

The Regency Bristol Hotel: https://www.reservations.com/hotel/the-regency-bristol-hotel The Regency Bristol Hotel, 40-44 St Pauls Road, Clifton BS8 ILR
35 mins walk, 1.7 miles

The Beaufort House apartments Clifton https://www.yourstaybristol.co.uk/locations/beaufort-house
1.2 miles and a 25 min walk –

The Alma Tavern, 18-20 Alma Vale Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2HY https://www.almatavernandtheatre.co.uk/
29 mins walk. 1.4 miles. Rooms also available through booking.com

Within an Hour’s Walk (or nearly)

Holiday Inn, Bristol city centre https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186220-d1983528-Reviews-Holiday_Inn_Bristol_City_Centre-Bristol_England.html 52 mins walk. 2.9 miles.

The Bristol Hotel https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186220-d191631-Reviews-The_Bristol-Bristol_England.html 56 mins walk. 2.6 miles.

Best Western Henbury Lodge Hotel, Station Rd, Henbury, Bristol BS10 7QQ,
https://www.bestwestern.co.uk/hotels/best-western-henbury-lodge-hotel-83915 2.7 miles, 58mins walk.

Bristol Marriott Hotel, https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186220-d192930-Reviews-Bristol_Marriott_Royal_Hotel-Bristol_England.html
51 mins walk. 2.3 miles. www.marriott.co.uk

Travelodge, Anchor Road, Bristol. 52 mins, 2.4 miles. One of a chain of basic hotels. https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/78/Bristol-Central-hotel

Mercure Bristol Holland House Hotel & Spa. https://mercurehollandhouse.besthotelsbristol.com/en/
Reviews-Mercure_Bristol_Holland_House_Hotel_Spa-Bristol_England.html” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186220-d628111-Reviews-Mercure_Bristol_Holland_House_Hotel_Spa-Bristol_England.html
3 miles, 1 hr 4 mins walk. https://all.accor.com/hotel/6698/index.en.shtml

Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel 2.3 miles, 51 mins walk.
https://mercuregrand.besthotelsbristol.com/en/

Brooks Guest House, Bristol, St Nicholas Court, St Nicholas Street, Bristol
Looks cool accommodation – retro roof top caravans. 53 mins and 2.4 miles. https://www.hotelsone.com/bristol-hotels-gb/brooks-guesthouse-bristol.html

The Ibis, Explore lane, Bristol BS1 5TY
https://all.accor.com/hotel/5547/index.en.shtml
2.5 miles. Around 53 mins walk to Trinity.

The Crafty Cow, 65 Gloucester Road, Bristol BS7 08J. 53 mins walk, 2.7 miles.
https://www.guestreservations.com/the-crafty-cow/booking

Norfolk Guest House, 575 Gloucester Road, Bristol BS7 0BW. Booking.com 2.5 miles, 50 mins walk
https://www.norfolkguesthouse.co.uk/

Other Options
For budget options, there are Premier Inns: https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/home.html May not always be in the most scenic parts of the city. None are particularly close. Premier Inn has one in Filton, but traffic can be busy around there

January 8th Flash Fiction Festival ‘Throwdown’ Winners

For the New Year, there were two contests for the Great Flash Fiction Festival Throwdown challenges on January 8th. Thank you to Electra Rhodes and Karen Jones for setting the challenges and judging the entries. Electra’s writing challenge was based on the painting ‘Starry Night’ by Vincent Van Gogh and Karen’s was based on Claude Monet’s ‘The Poppy Field’. Mugs, shown in the stack here, featuring these paintings, form part of the winners prize and both our judges created great prompts. Our winners also receive £30 cash and publication and two runners-up a book from Ad Hoc Fiction plus publication in the Flash Fiction Festival Anthology due out soon.

Electra and Karen have now chosen their winners
Electra said:

photo by Serge Van Neck on Unsplash

“It was a pleasure to read this collation of stories and to pay them all some thorough attention. There was lots of rich and evocative language, some delicious description, and some clever characterisation. I really enjoyed reading them aloud to see how they sounded and landed. Thank you for making it so hard to choose.

In the end I plumped for one where I liked the way the piece accreted new layers throughout, and built and built and built. The language was clean and the characters effectively drawn in few words, and it was laced with a melancholy and regret which was subtly done but which stayed with me afterwards. So ‘The Lost Man in Van Gogh’s Starry Night’ is the winner”
(This story was written by Marzia Rahman from Bangladesh.
Marzia Rahman is a Bangladeshi fiction writer and translator of short stories and poetry. Her short fictions have appeared in many magazines and journals worldwide. Her novella in flash, Life on the Edges, was longlisted in the Bath Novella in Flash Award in 2018. She is also a painter.

“The runner-up is the one that made me laugh, I’m a bit of a sobersides and I went into the reading of all the entries ready to experience a range of emotions but without an expectation I’d find something I thought really funny. I admit it’s quite a dark humour and I’m not entirely sure whether or not it’s an unreliable narrator telling a tall tale, or what exactly did or didn’t happen, but, again, the story stayed with me afterwards. I admit too, to being a bit of a sucker for punny titles so, ‘Poetic Justice’ is my runner-up.”
(This story was written by Marie Gethins from Ireland)
Marie Gethins’ flash fiction is widely published in magazines and journals and she has won or been placed in many short fiction awards. Marie is a Pushcart and Best of the Short Fictions nominee and an editor for Splonk literary magazine in Ireland.

Karen said:

photo by Corina-ardeleanu-sWlxCweDzzs-unsplash-1

The stories for the prompt were amazing – I really struggled to choose a winner and runner up.

First place: ‘Restoration’ a great take on the prompt and I loved the way the sections slotted together, just like the bowl in the story. The use of colours was beautifully done.
(This story was written by Corrine Leith from the UK)
Corrine Leith lives in rural England with a cat, a dog and two ponies. She writes a mix of flash fiction, poetry and children’s stories which have been published in print and online. She is a previous winner of The Potteries Prize for Flash Fiction and was runner-up in the latest annual Mslexia Flash Fiction Competition.

Runner up: ‘I See Red’. Using different shades of this colour was a perfect way to tell this story. The anger and hurt builds through the sections and I felt I could really see and feel everything the mc went through.
(This story was written by Sudha Balagopal from the US)
Sudha Balagopal’s short fiction has been published in journals around the world, has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fiction and will be included in Best Micro Fictions in 2022. Her novella in flash, Things I Can’t Tell Amma was highly commended in the 2021 Bath Flash Fiction Award and published by Ad Hoc Fiction in 2021. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching yoga.

Many congratulations to all four writers! We’re looking forward to seeing them all in print in Flash Fiction Festival Anthology Vol Four.

Winners from the November Great Flash Fiction Festival Throw Down Contest

Photo by Billy Huynh, Unsplash

We’re delighted that Sara Hills, an award winning writer and editor based in the UK who won the Winner of Winners with her story ‘Blue’ for the Showstopper Challenge in our Spring and Summer series of flash fiction festival days agreed to judge the November ‘Throwdown’ Challenge.

Sara based her prompt on the well-known picture ‘The Kiss’ by Gustav Klimt’ and following Sara’s excellent instructions, entrants were asked to write a story involving a kiss of some sort. Read in Full

Winner of The Great Flash Fiction Festival Throwdown, October contest

Participants at the first of the new series of flash fiction festival days in October had the opportunity to take part in a mini flash fiction contest. Our contests for this round of the five day series are inspired by the British TV show – The Great Pottery Throwdown. It is renowned for one of the judges, who is moved to tears by the wonderful creations the amateur potters make. Read more on our post about the contest.

We are giving away mugs and a £30 cash prize plus publication for a winning story each month plus a book giveaway from Ad Hoc Fiction for the runner up. We ask people to write stories that make an emotional impact.

Our first judge from the October festival day was Diane Simmons who based her prompt on a mug featuring Van Gogh’s sunflowers. She selected ‘Inside My Father’s Head’ by UK writer Ali McGrane. Ali McGrane won one of the Signature contests in our last series with her story ‘This is Not A Story About A Rainstick’ and was selected The Winner of Winners of the Signature Challenge for the same story by our judge team at the end of the series. Many congratulations to Ali who co-incidentally will also have her novella in flash The Listening Project up on preorder with Ad Hoc Fiction later this week. The Listening Project was shortlisted by Michelle Elvy in the Bath Novella in Flash Award in 2020.
Bio
Ali McGrane lives and writes between the sea and the moor. Her work has appeared in anthologies and online, including Ellipsis Zine, FlashBack Fiction, Janus Literary, Splonk, and on shortlists including the Bath Flash Fiction Award. Her Bath shortlisted flash novella, The Listening Project, is forthcoming from Ad Hoc Fiction Find her on Twitter: @Ali_McGrane_UK. Read in Full

Flash-Off Festival Challenges: Winners of Winners !

Photo by Billy Huynh, Unsplash

For those of you in the know, in our last series of Festival Days, March to August this year, we cloned the TV show,The Great British Bake Off and, instead of baking tasks, different judge duos gave festival participants the tasks of writing flash fictions to signature, technical and showstopper challenges.

Monthly judges duos were:Diane Simmons and Robert Barrett; Karen Jones and Tim Craig; Damhnait Monaghan and Alison Woodhouse; Ken Elkes and Helen Rye;, Jeanette Sheppard and Matt Kendrick and Ingrid Jendrzejewski and Neil Clark. These judges chose winners for each challenge. And eight of them kindly agreed to vote for their winner and winners for each category.Each winner receives £50 in cash. Stories were neck and neck in the points scored, but we did end up with three clear winners.

So, many congratulations to Ali McGrane who was voted winner of winners in the Signature Challenge for her story ‘This is Not a Story About a Rainstick’; Rosaleen Lynch was voted winner of winners in the Technical Challenge for her story with ‘Recipe for Sustenance to avoid the end of the world as we know it, served with fresh roles’ and Sara Hills who won winner of winners in the Showstopper Challenge for her story ‘Blue’. Read in Full

The Great Festival Cupcake Contest Results!

photo by vy huynh on Unsplash

Thank you very much to everyone who entered The Great Festival Cupcake Contest. Entrants were asked to write a 150 word Hermit Crab Story in the style of a recipe for a cupcake. This challenge was related to the theme of our last series of flash fiction festival days, The Great Festival Flash-Off. The series was partly inspired by writer, teacher and editor Nancy Stohlman’s fun definition of flash fiction as the ‘cupcake of literature’, in an interview with her at Smokelong Quarterly,and the reality TV show The Great British Bake Off. The cupcake contest was an extra mini competition open to the public, not just those who came to the festival days.

We had forty entries in all, which we thought was a good result for the challenge of writing a hermit crab micro so short on a the very exacting subject! Half the money raised from the entry cost of £5.00 goes to the winner and half to the Huntington’s Disease Association Charity. The festival has covered paypal charges to round up the funds received to £200.
and we are delighted to give the winner £100 and £100 to the charity.

The runner up receives books from Ad Hoc Fiction, a flash fiction festival tote bag and a free entry to Bath Flash Fiction Award. And the other three writers writer and co-director of Flash Fiction Festivals UK, Diane Simmons, selected for her top five have been offered publication in the festival anthology and will receive a free copy.

Our thanks to Diane for judging this competition. She read all the micros blind and said she greatly enjoyed the variety of recipe stories served up and was impressed with how people managed to use this structure. Her comments on her top five stories are below and bios of the writers are coming soon. Read in Full

The Great Festival Flash-Off Results – August

photo by Serge Van Neck on Unsplash

Thank you to everyone who entered the writing challenges for the August Great Festival Flash-Off, the last day of our first series. (check out our new festival series beginning Oct 30th). In August, the challenges were set by judge duo, writers and editors, Ingrid Jendzrejewski and Neil Clark. Thank you very much to them for their brilliant prompts and for judging all the stories which were sent to them blind. The prompts from all the judges will be included in our fourth Flash Fiction Festival Anthology. The first three anthologies were published after the yearly face-to-face Festivals and it is wonderful to be able to publish a new one containing all the competition winners, runner-ups and other stories from judges, presenters, Cup Cake Contest Winners and a selection of stories submitted by participants, prompted by workshops from the festival days.

Three books, red, orange and yello with Flash Fiction Festival written on the cover

first 3 anthologies

Prizes for The Challenges
As well as anthology publication, the winners of the Signature, Technical and Showstopper challenges receive a copy of an anthology of flash fiction published by Ad Hoc Fction; a free entry to Bath Flash Fiction Award; a flash fiction festival tote bag and two free sessions on the weekly Tuesday flash fiction sessions run by Jude Higgins.. In addition the winners will be entered into our winner of winners prizes to be announced by the end of this month. Cash prize of £50 for each category.
Our judges this month also chose runners up and we are very happy to offer the writers publication in the anthology. Read in Full

The Great Festival Flash Off Results, July

photo by stories-ys8qztLjJyg-unsplash

Thank you to everyone who entered the writing challenges for the July Great Festival Flash Off day set by Jeanette Sheppard and Matt Kendrick And thank you very much to Jeanette and Matt for their very creative prompts for the Signature, Technical and Showstopper challenges and their work in selecting the winners. You will be able to read all the challenges set, as well as the winning stories in our festival anthology.

For each category, the winner will receive a book from the anthologies published by Ad Hoc Fiction, a free entry to the Bath Flash Fiction Award, a Festival tote bag and two free sessions on the Tuesday flash fiction group led by Jude Higgins. In addition, the stories will be published in our Festival Anthology to be published by Ad Hoc Fiction and entered into our winners of winners contest for a chance of winning £50 for each of the challenges. We’re very much looking forward to seeing all these stories in print.

The Winner of the Signature challenge is Adele Rickerby for her story Missing Person. Adele Rickerby only recently discovered flash fiction, but has quickly become enamoured with the form. She currently lives in beautiful Heidelberg, Germany, a ridiculously long way from her Australian roots and family. She is about to start an MSt in Creative Writing at Cambridge University and is alternately thrilled and terrified.

Adele also won the May technical challenge judged by Helen Rye with her story ‘Dust to Dust’

Jeanette, who judged this challenge, made this comment about ‘Missing Person’.

The opening sentence and the idea of a disappearing-child-made-literal are intriguing. White space is used to great effect here, adding layers to the story as it unfolds.

The Winner of the Technical Challenge is Gina Headden for her story Air is Lighter Than Water. Gina’s fiction has been published on audio platforms, in anthologies and in fiction and non-fiction magazines including The Cabinet of Heed, Flashback Fiction, Ellipsis Zine, The Longleaf Review, NFFD’s Flash Flood and the Sunday Herald Magazine. Forthcoming in Bath Flash Fiction Anthology 2021.

Gina also received an honourable mention in the April Flash Off challenges for her story, ‘Blown Glass Birds’ and this story will also be published in the Festival Anthology.

Matt, who judged this challenge, made these comments about ‘Air is Lighter Than Water’

A wonderful microcosm of a story that explores a sister and brother’s changing relationship in the wake of their father’s death. I enjoyed how the story starts and ends with the same image of the narrator blowing dandelion clocks and how the writer has woven in splashes of humour and other tonal shifts.

photo by christine-jou-6PPQDX2liKE-unsplash

The Winner of the Showstopper challenge is Sara Hills for her story Blue
Sara Hills’ short fiction has been published in Smokelong Quarterly, Cheap Pop, XRay, Fractured Lit, The New Flash Fiction Review and others. She has won the NFFD micro contest, The Retreat West quarterly competition and been commended in the Bath Flash Fiction Award. One of her stories was recently selected for the Wigleaf Top 50 stories. Her debut collection, The Evolution of Birds was published in July 2021, by Ad Hoc Fiction.

Sara is now a three times winner of the Festival Flash-Off challenges, having won the Showstopper challenge judged by Damhnait Monaghan and Alison Woodhouse in June for her story ‘Lessons in Attachment Parenting’ and the technical challenge in the April Flash-Off judged by Karen Jones for her story ‘Teenage Kicks’.

Jeanette and Matt who jointly judged this challenge made these comments about ‘Blue’.

This was a clear winner for both of us. It moved us, ultimately, and the revelations are lightly done. We thought it a strong example of a story revealed through a list and it fitted the ‘illusion’ challenge in both content and form.

The final Great Festival Flash Off Day of this series is on August 28th. Judges this time are writers and editors Ingrid Jenrzejewski and Neil Clark. Places still available for the whole day which costs £30 for all events. There are also some free places for those short of funds. Contact us if you would like one.

Great Festival Flash-Off Results, June

image by designecologist

We’re delighted to announce the winners of the June Great Festival Flash Off contests judged by writers Damhnait Monaghan and Alison Woodhouse
hey really enjoyed the stories and you will be able to see them in print in our festival anthology donated by Ad Hoc Fiction and out later this year The winners also each receive an anthology of their choice from Ad Hoc Fiction, a free entry to Bath Flash Fiction Award, a festival tote bag and two free sessions on Jude Higgins’ Tuesday flash fiction group.
Read in Full