What should I read next? It’s a question we all ask ourselves time and again. Even with the countless essays, novels, screenplays, poems, and transmedia pieces to discover, to fall in love with or to detest, it can be a challenge to choose. Enter Expo Recommends, a curated selection of readings brought to you by the editors of Exposition Review.
Going into our sixth annual issue, we decided to celebrate the work that we have loved but were unable to publish ourselves. It’s one of an editor’s worst nightmares. A piece is submitted to your literary journal that is absolutely perfect, but before you can send out the acceptance, you get a notification from Submittable: “Piece Withdrawn.” Another literary journal got there first. Even though we have sadly had to let pieces go over the years, we are so glad the writers we loved found homes for their pieces!
With the theme “International Travel,” judge Dave Gregory asked to “see the world through your words,” and received numerous entries that did just that: stories that made us richer, even at a time when the desire to travel and boundaries—physical, emotional, and social—seem more keenly felt than ever. We are now pleased to share the best of those stories with the world! Plus, with a portion of the entry fees and Exposition Review matching the amount, we were able to donate to an important nonprofit in the Los Angeles community.
We are pleased to announce the winners of Flash 405: “Change in Perspective,” selected by guest judge K.B. Carle. The April 2020 contest asked writers to tell stories that changed them, but from a completely different point of view. K.B.’s prompt challenged writers to think outside the box (or even as the box!) and pushed them out of their comfort zone, resulting in some excellent, unexpected pieces.
Exposition Review is ecstatic to announce our latest issue has launched, 
We are pleased to announce the winners of “Bright Spot,” our first Flash 405 contest of 2020, judged by Exposition Review Associate Editor Sarah Smith Narhi. With the current global health crisis, finding bright spots in life—the things “that spark enough joy that you would fistfight Marie Kondo to save them”—has never been more relevant.