Flash 405, April 2023: “Flight” Winners

For our April Flash 405 contest, guest judge Lucy Zhang wanted to read about flight, asking, “How do we fly, but also how do we float, fall, or glide?” In the winning pieces, imagery around her theme—birds, planes, space—soared in unexpected ways, with poignancy and whimsy.

Learn more about Lucy’s selections and read the winning pieces below:

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Exposition Review, Vol. VIII: “Lines” Launch

Exposition Review is thrilled to share our latest issue, Vol. VIII: “Lines”!

This edition explores connection. Between parents and children, artists and fans, friends and lovers, robots and humans. To one’s city and across borders. Via humor and through grief. The lines within this issue are both physical and metaphorical, and throughout—like on our cover specially designed by Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin—illustrate the moments when art intersects reality, when we scrawl over the way the world appears and redesign what is into what could be.

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Call for Entries: Flash 405, June 2023: “Crescendo”

Exposition Review is pleased to share the theme for our June 2023 Flash 405 contest judged by our own Fiction Co-Editor Shze-Hui Tjoa: “Crescendo.”

Flash 405 is Exposition Review’s multi-genre short-form writing competition, awarding cash prizes and online publication to the winners. Submissions will be open June 4–July 5, 2023.

Read on to learn more about Shze-Hui and her prompt:

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Composition: ‘Reach’ Is Now Available

We are proud to announce the publication of the second issue of our chapbook, Composition: Reach. Like its predecessor, Rearview, Reach is the brainchild of an Expo intern—this time, Ashley Moon. It contains selected flash fiction from our past Flash 405 writing contests and visual art from our annual issues. As Chapbook Editor, Moon curated a collection of art constructed from different media and then selected Flash 405 fiction pieces to act as bridges linking one artwork to the next.

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Recap: ‘Share Your Voice!’ Workshop Collab with Mag 20/20

For the seventh edition of Exposition Review’s “Share Your Voice!” workshop, we got an itch and shook things up a bit for our annual event for emerging writers. As in previous years, we invited WriteGirl teens and alums and students from PEN America’s DREAMing Out Loud program to the free session with the ultimate goal of publishing their work.

But this time we had a partner: Sofía Aguilar, who brought expertise as ​​an alum of the workshop, Expo contributor, avid submitter, and editor of Mag 20/20, an online magazine dedicated to creatives in their twenties—to which participants were invited to submit as well.

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AWP Panel Recap: Meant to Last: Maintaining Longevity as an Independent Lit Journal

It was Thursday morning, the first full day of #AWP2023 in Seattle, and the conference was already buzzing with the hunt for coffee, frantic connections to the Wi-Fi, and the excitement of tote bags at check-in. Expo’s panel, “Meant to Last: Maintaining Longevity as an Independent Lit Journal,” was a part of the first block of panels bright and early at 9 a.m. This would be our second time with a featured panel at AWP, our first taking place in San Antonio back in 2020 (find that recap here).

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Flash 405, February 2023: “Tacky” Winners

In our February Flash 405 competition, Judge Krista Nave sought entries that celebrated kitsch, embraced the garish, and indulged in excess without shame. Sifting through the entries, she discovered pieces infused with more than just gaudy jewelry—and work that embraces timeless subjects of grief and hope.

Learn more about Krista’s selections and read the winning pieces below:

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Call for Entries: Flash 405, April 2023: “Flight”


Another round of Flash 405 is taking “flight” with guest judge Lucy Zhang!

Lucy’s flash fiction piece “Unstable Relationship” appeared in Exposition Review Vol. VII: “Flux”, and was nominated and selected for Best Microfiction 2023. She’ll now be selecting the winners for this Flash 405 contest, which is based on her chosen theme, “Flight.”

Submissions will open on April 4, 2023, via Submittable. Before submitting, we encourage you to check out the full prompt below. You can also see further guidelines and see past contest winners by visiting our Flash 405 page.

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Call for Entries: Flash 405, February 2023: “Tacky”

We are delighted to kick off another round of Flash 405 with a new prompt, “Tacky,” chosen by our own Kes Nave!

Kes started her journey with Exposition Review as a participant in our annual “Share Your Voice!” publishing workshop and a contributor to our “Wonder” issue with her first published poem “Justice Favors Fortune.” Then she was an intern on our “Act/Break” issue and an associate editor on “Hunger” and “Flux.” And for our upcoming issue, “Lines,” Kes is serving as Stage & Screen Editor.

Submissions will open on February 4, 2023, via Submittable. Before submitting, we encourage you to check out the full prompt below. You can also see further guidelines and see past contest winners by visiting our Flash 405 page.

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“Flux” Literary Prize Nominations

At Exposition Review, our mission is to continue to create opportunities for our ever-growing community of talented writers and artists to share their voices and grow their platforms. This is why, every year, we submit some of our strongest published work for a variety of prestigious literary awards and anthologies. We are proud to present our nominees from our “Flux” issue for the following awards:
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