SECOND PLACE in the Welkin Writing Prize 2026, "What Stays Behind" by Muntasir Salman. A powerhouse of a micro with so much buried inside its one hundred words: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...

I can never run a comp because this was freaking impossible. I flipped a coin for a couple I’m not gonna lie 😆

“Because ojha exorcise, poke her with hot needle, but Gopa-Devi quiet, no cry. Because no one should look at her.” I love the use of language here and the way it conveys a sense of place and pathos.

I’ve always wanted to write a forwards-backwards story like this but never quite managed it. This one does it so well.

“Eventually, the modifier slipped into parentheses—Tom (cat) stopped eating regularly, Tom (man) started scratching himself, Tom (cat) spent too long in the bathroom—before it was dropped altogether” This story by @emilyrinkema.bsky.social is so clever!

“Running too fast & standing too close. Friendly masks & white candy vans” This piece by @onmytangent.bsky.social is so inventive.

Today's shortlisted story is "That Day" by Shofiqure Rahman. A powerful exploration of refugee life: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...

Today's shortlisted story is "weak beans" by Barnaby Wick. A piece which effectively covers so much narrative in such such an original tone of voice: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...

Me already feeling a bit blue… and picked the wrong time to read this 😭 Anyway, this is a very poignant tale by Jo Withers. You might cry, be warned.

My book review of “Mother Karma” by Sumitra Singam @pleomorphic2.bsky.social is up @thehooghlyreview.bsky.social Published by @publishedbyjake.bsky.social thehooghlyreview.com/category/asa...

Today's shortlisted story is "John" by Petra Marteleur. A wonderful slice of weird and whimsical: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...

“how I tried to shed my innermost parts, coiled heavy and shameful” Vivid and powerful writing by @cake-girl.bsky.social in this amazing piece

“Real drifted toward curious, and curious pressed its forehead to the window…” oh, I couldn’t predict where this was going at all. What a fantastic story.

Today's shortlisted story is "On the longest night of the darkest year" by @melissafitz.bsky.social. Such an atmospheric piece: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...

Today's shortlisted story is "Things My Brother Explains With Absolute Authority" by J.M.C. Kane. Such a deep and philosophical piece. www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...

Late to this fantastic story by @tacilim.bsky.social. Probably for the best cuz I’m a little upset about the fate of Sugar ball 😔

I confess I had to look up if there was a third Hemsworth brother (sorry, Luke), but commiserations to the good man. This is a great story that made me smile. Now why can’t I hallucinate a semi-hot celeb to fix my existential crises?

Eeek! I’ve got a drabble up on Rat Bag Lit. This story started out as CNF in the @offtopicpublishing.bsky.social Writers conference and evolved from there.

Please join us in congratulating our Best Small Fictions 2026 nominees: @saipradhan.bsky.social, @francinewitte.bsky.social, @laurabesley.bsky.social @writesofkathryn.bsky.social and @happilander.bsky.social 😍 Read their stories here: literarynamjooning.wixsite.com/litnam/proje... #namjooning

DRUM ROLL!!!! 🥁🥁🥁 It gives me great pleasure to announce the SPARKLING longlist for the Welkin Writing Prize 2026. Congratulations to all the writers on this list. And commiserations to everyone else. The standard was incredibly high: www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...

🚨BIG NEWS!!!!🚨 We are so beyond excited and honored to announce that the wonderful and talented @emilyrinkema.bsky.social is joining the Flash Frog family! 🐸💙

I've been in a funk recently, really worried about the weeks / months ahead; so today, I sent out a newsletter that felt quite vulnerable, & the way the writing community have jumped to my support has as always far exceeded anything I deserve ❤️❤️❤️ prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com/p/starting-t...

Friends, if you have the means to, please do support @mattkendrick.bsky.social by using his (amazing) editing, mentoring or teaching skills or by tipping his kofi. He’s a gem, and he needs our support at the moment prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com?utm_campaign...

Accidentally “Pollocked” a painting trying to revive my dried up Posca markers 🤣

Help us welcome our 2026 Emerging Writer Fellows! We're so excited to work with these five talented writers for the next six months! www.smokelong.com/meet-the-202...

One, I’ve always wanted a cat (allergic🥲); if I had a cat, I’d want it to judge me in a Scottish accent. Love this funny and poignant story from @emilyrinkema.bsky.social

That's it folks!!!! Entries are now closed for another year! An INCREDIBLE 1277 (!!!) entries have been received. A record. I have some tough choices ahead. The longlist should hopefully be coming your way on the 8th January. That's next Thursday! Good luck!

Very true. I need to be transported to a certain emotional state to be able to write and music does it better than anything else.

I have regained access to Substack and so I posted my first whatever it is called (stack?) about how music inspires me. It’s not all about Bowie (surprisingly) and there is a new poem included as a bonus. Check it out if you’re interested. Cheers

"...you just want that storm to break, need to feel that thunder in your bones even if lightning gotta strike you first, you just gotta know — can I beat that devil?" Whooooo if it isn't @mynachang.bsky.social in @brettpribble.bsky.social 's Ghost Parachute!

Thrilled to see @varshawrites86.bsky.social’s piece in this list! Thank you, @pleomorphic2.bsky.social & @mattkendrick.bsky.social for the #ExpoContributor spotlight!

I’ve been gone from here and submitting work in general for a while. I’ve still been writing ofc. And reading all your stories but kinda lost the spoons to interact cuz of a series of unexpected events. I’ve missed everyone :( But I’m back now.

“…sweat kept trickling down my collarbone, forming a tributary somewhere at the bottom of my bra. LOW-LYING AREAS WILL FLOOD FIRST.” Love the sprinkling of humour throughout this piece.

I’m back after a long break that I took for no particular reason…

Experimenting with posca markers, so I was drawing soap bubbles for fun, and I think I unintentionally Van-Goghed a section of this

Been in a somewhat low mood lately and AWOL from social media. I’m ok now, but how do I catch up on all the great stories I’ve missed in the meantime?

“The more I stared at the idea, the stronger and more fanciful it became.” — I love how this micro juxtaposes “us” and “I.” Such a subtle meditation on loss of autonomy and identity in a relationship.

“There is a new mouth on my arm. I move its lips and it says, “Sad. Sad. Bad. Sad. Bad. Mad.” If scars could talk, they’d tell you where you were going. I loved the air of apprehension in this story — fearing the inevitable. What a ride (and ending), Sumitra.

Thrilled to be on the longlist! Thank you Expo Team for all you’ve done for this piece. ♥️ Congrats to everyone on the longlist and Top 50.

“I told myself it was temporary. I would soon be back on my own two feet.” - I told myself this too. That it would pass, and I could have a “normal”-ish existence again. It didn’t happen - I used to think of it as a lost decade, of waiting, but now I think of it as time that I needed.

“But in the long nights she will listen to the sad wailing of the freight train and she will dream on and on” - two journeys, one physical, one emotional, in this gorgeous story “She Sleeps to the Sound of the Night Train” by @bronwengriffiths.bsky.social

Not to sound too “Gone Girl”-ish, but sometimes I think I want to poke at Sumitra’s brain and find out how she comes up with the stories she does… Anyway, this one is brilliant. A must read.

This hits hard, especially if you were a version of “Marissa” yourself. Ah, the guilt of making your mother’s life miserable because you can’t understand what’s going on with you or how the world works.

“One big bang can start a universe” - I can already tell this story will stay with me a while. The universe of possibilities as described by @jenwithwords.bsky.social.

Until we remember Keith Morrison, his baritone warning, it’s always the friend, the boyfriend, the husband, it’s always someone you know.” The oppressive, omnipresent fear as described by @kelliborges2.bsky.social

“All she knows is that she loves being out here on the road, the recklessness of it.” Love the tension and inner conflict that simmers just beneath the surface in this story by @bronwengriffiths.bsky.social in #nffd25.

I found a tiny bat hanging from my door frame, so this is, uh, very topical. Delightfully absurd tale from @stillsquirrel.bsky.social in #nffd25. If bats did write poetry, what would they write about? 🤔

Back from physiotherapy and I’m Horatio with a (disguised) limp now. Lovely piece, Matt. I love how you use colour and imagery to emphasise both the sameness of Horatio world and the yearning for difference.

This piece has so many layers. You find something new on each read. @pleomorphic2.bsky.social — (flash?) queen of turning the weird into the sublime.

An epochal event from the past tied to one we are all living through. I already know I’ll be coming back to this one again and again @gilloshaughnessy.bsky.social