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:
– August 2025 Round –
The Judge: Kiana Shaley
Kiana Shaley is the author of Entrance, forthcoming with Futurepoem, and poems that have appeared in Fugue Journal, The Racket, and other publications. She teaches at California State University, Long Beach and at Santa Monica College, serves as the Associate Poetry Editor for Exposition Review, and lives a perfectly normal life in Los Angeles.
The Theme: Normal
From Kiana:
“You are perfectly normal. I am perfectly normal. We are perfectly normal. Everything that is happening and has happened is perfectly normal. Because the world we live in is so perfectly normal, we write, we make art, we scream, we chant. It is in normal that meaning and beauty are found.
I am begging you, please, prove me wrong.”
Before submitting, we encourage you to read the full guidelines; these can be found on our Submittable (link below) or on our Flash 405 contest page, where you can also see past contests and winners.
Please reach out to expositionreviewflash405@gmail.com with any questions.
Good luck!
