Our August Flash 405 contest invited us to consider flash stories on the theme of normal—but the response we received to this prompt was anything but! After an amazing year of Flash 405 contests, this last round was record-breaking, with a truly inspired number of “normal” narratives.
Congratulations to the winners who rose above the rest; we’ve had the pleasure of reading them many, many times (and will many times again!) and are stoked to finally share them with the world.
As a nod to our ten-year anniversary, what better way to celebrate the occasion than to share the journeys of contributors, editors, readers, and interns who are our Expo Family? Within this blog series, folks from our Expo Fam have been invited to share how they got involved with the journal, as well as how it has influenced their work.
We view this series as a time capsule for the impact and growth that has taken place at Exposition Review. We hope these personal reflections can inspire others to read, write, and learn more about what our journal has to offer.
Our next Expo Story star is Max Tachis.
Continue reading “What’s Your Expo Story?: Max Tachis Edition”
Our June contest “Illumination” was a bright spot for Flash 405, with the brilliant Melissa Llanes Brownlee as our guest judge. With a record number of submissions, we are pleased to finally share our winners! As you will discover, each of these stories “shine with creative light,” exploring the dark and light sides of hope, truth, and illumination.
Read on to discover them for yourself!
Continue reading “Flash 405, June 2025: “Illumination” Winners”
Issue XI begins with an infinite tension.
Para – altered, beside, beyond, against.
Social – the networks of intimacy, recognition, and belonging we carry with us.
Joined together, these words suggest closeness without reciprocity; connection without contact. We hear it most often in the context of celebrity, cashiers, counselors, and colleagues – unreturned attachments we form out of unmet needs.
But what if PARA/SOCIAL is more than a warning label? What if PARA/SOCIAL signals possibility?
To write into PARA/SOCIAL is to explore:
For this issue we invite work that traces the edges of intimacy and illusion. We seek longing projected across distance, the distortions of connection, and the gifts of being alongside – with or without perception and recognition.
This theme is not a verdict, but an invitation: to consider how we live beside each other, how we build connections through shadow, screen, and story, and how we might reimagine the boundaries of the social altogether.
Let PARA/SOCIAL pull you, softly or wrenchingly, in opposite directions. Let the word unravel and remake itself through your work.
Submissions will be open September 15–December 15, 2025. We accept work in all forms: fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction, poetry, scripts for stage & screen, experimental narratives, visual art, film, and comics.
For all submissions received by October 31, 2025, we guarantee personalized feedback. All accepted work will receive $50.00 USD as payment. Free submission days will be on December 2 (Giving Tuesday) and December 10 (Human Rights Day).
We look forward to reading your work!
Editors-in-Chief:
Rebecca Luxton & Laura Rensing
Section Editors:
Fiction Editor: Dave Gregory
Associate Fiction Editor: Yuya Hattori
Flash Fiction Editor: Jessica June Rowe
Nonfiction Editor: Heather Vaughan
Poetry Editor: Kiana Shaley
Comics and Film Editor: Lauren Gorski
Stage & Screen Editor: Mellinda Hensley
Experimental Editor: Ramona Pilar
Visual Art Editor: Brianna J.L. Smyk
Editorial Board Advisor: CD Eskilson
Managing Editor:
Annlee Ellingson
Remember to check out our submission page for specific guidelines. Want an even better idea of what to submit to us? Read our previous issues.
We accept all submissions via Submittable:
As we head into autumn, we’re fondly looking back on the summer launch of our “Spring” issue!
Exposition Review Vol. X raises hope. For relief from grief. In the resilience of both nature and urban communities. With the sight of a Nike sneaker floating in on the Pacific tide. The stories and art and experiments on these pages dig deep into the human experience, and as you delve into them too, you’ll find hope blooms on the other side.
Continue reading “Exposition Review, Vol. X: “Spring” Launch”
A decade into Exposition Review, there are a handful of events that we look forward to every season: The editorial board’s yearly retreat each fall. The launch party for the annual issue each summer. And, in between, the publishing workshop we put together for emerging writers each spring.
For our ninth annual “Share Your Voice!” workshop, we once again invited WriteGirl teens and alums and students from PEN America’s DREAMing Out Loud program to this free session with the ultimate goal of publishing their work.
Continue reading “Recap: ‘Share Your Voice!’ Workshop Goes Behind the Scenes at Literary Journals”
Mark your calendars–Flash 405 will re-open for submissions on August 4! Our Flash 405 writing contest is a celebration of extraordinary short-form narratives, accepting work in multiple genres, from prose to poetry to hybrid and experimental forms.
For our August round, though, we’re not looking for “extraordinary.” What we want is a bit more mundane: flash narratives inspired by the theme “Normal,” chosen by our contest judge, Expo Associate Poetry Editor Kiana Shaley.
Submissions will close September 5, so don’t miss your chance to enter! This is our last contest of 2025.
Learn more about Kiana and this month’s contest theme:
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, August 2025: “Normal””
Summer may be in full swing, but here at Expo, we’re still basking in the glow “Spring.” And, in the spirit of not “quitting” the season, we have even more new work to share: the winners of our latest Flash 405 contest.
“Quitting” was the theme of our April contest, judged by Francesca Spiegel. As our Associate Nonfiction Editor, Francesca asked for stories that condensed the big, hard truths of quitting into beautiful micro narratives.
Congratulations to our 1st and 2nd place winners, who both received a cash prize. They, along with two honorable mentions, can be read below:
Continue reading “Flash 405, April 2025: “Quitting” Winners”
As a nod to our ten-year anniversary, what better way to celebrate the occasion than to share the journeys of contributors, editors, readers, and interns who are our Expo Family? Within this blog series, folks from our Expo Fam have been invited to share how they got involved with the journal, as well as how it has influenced their work.
We view this series as a time capsule for the impact and growth that has taken place at Exposition Review. We hope these personal reflections can inspire others to read, write, and learn more about what our journal has to offer.
We want to spend this time focusing on Lauren Gorski, a founding editor of Expo. Lauren is currently on the Editorial Board of Exposition Review, and has served as Stage & Screen Editor, Co-Editor-in-Chief, and Comics & Film Editor for the annual issue.
Continue reading “What’s Your Expo Story?: Lauren Gorski Edition”
Flash 405 is brighter than ever for June 2025! We are thrilled to introduce our incredible guest judge, Melissa Llanes Brownlee, and share her chosen theme for this round: “Illumination.”
Flash 405 is Exposition Review’s multi-genre short-form writing competition, awarding cash prizes and online publication to the winners. Whether you write prose, poetry, or experimental flash, we want to read your short-form supernovas.
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, June 2025: “Illumination””