Monday, July 23: Featured Reader at Spoken Word Paris (Theme: Carnical/Circus!)

On July 16, 2018July 1, 2018 By nancystohlmanIn flash fiction, Reading, Uncategorized

Nancy Stohlman to Guest at SpokenWord Paris July 23–Monday’s Theme: Carnival/Circus

Nancy headshot yellow.jpg

SpokenWord Paris is one pole of a nomadic tribe of people who love poetry, writing and song. A home for creatives and lost anglophones. We do an open mic night called SpokenWord every Monday au Chat Noir and an allied writers’ workshop at Shakespeare & Company (every Sunday.) We do a literary journal called The Bastille and Tightrope Books published many of us in the book “Strangers in Paris.” Click on the blue stamp on the right to sign up to the mailing list.

Open mic/scène ouverte: Performance poetry. Lire vivant. Poésie sonore. Stand up. Monologue. Stories. Beat poetry. Spoken word. English. Français. Your own original texts. Old texts from Rimbaud to Dr Seuss, Beowulf to Gil Scott-Heron. Chacun a son mot à dire. Make the words come alive…………………….. Acoustic songs also welcome.

SpokenWord Sounds
Some podcasts from Monday nights au Chat Noir, by Victor. Listen or download here.

SpokenWord
Starts again 4th Sept. Then every Monday Au Chat Noir, 76 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud 75011. Métro Parmentier/Couronnes. Sign up 8pm to 9.30pm in the bar. Poetics start from 8.30pm underground. Check out thePractical info page for more info. Paris’ biggest and longest-running English open mic night, started in 2006. All langues welcome. Entry one euro.

Themes
Check next week’s theme here

AWOL Writers’ Group – free!
6.30pm-8.30pm every Sunday at Shakespeare & Company, 37 rue de la Bûcherie, 75005. Free. Bring your writing or just come and listen join the discussion. Hosted by Bruce Sherfield and Simon Millward. Description Join us afterwards for a drink.

Chat Noir sketch drawn by Allison Iwata.

Thursday, July 5: Featured Reader at Paris LitUp!

On July 2, 2018June 26, 2018 By nancystohlmanIn flash fiction, Uncategorized, writing

Paris Lit Up featuring Nancy Stohlman

Posted on 17 Jun 2018 in Featured, PLU Open Mic |

Get your sunglasses at the ready, because July 5’s featured performer is queen of flash, the author Nancy Stohlman! Sign-up from 8, shades on at 8.45pm…

Nancy Stohlman is the author of the flash fiction collection The Vixen Scream and Other Bible Stories, the flash novels The Monster Opera and Searching for Suzi, and three anthologies including Fast Forward: The Mix Tape, which was a finalist for a 2011 Colorado Book Award. She is the creator and curator of The Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series, the creator of FlashNano in November. She lives in Denver and teaches at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her newest book, Madam Velvet’s Cabaret of Oddities, is forthcoming in the fall of 2018.

Paris LitUp happens every Thursday in English (other languages too – when in Rome, speak French) at the historic home of French Slam poetry, Culture Rapide (103 Rue Julien Lacroix, 75020). If you would like to read, dance, sing or otherwise express yourself, sign up is open and free to all starting at 8pm-ish. We go until we drop – which means all night long! In any language. Or no language at all. No limits. From extreme poetry and explosive prose to exhilarating music and even excellent theatre.

Plus, each week Featured Performers from around the world are invited to strut their stuff before our rowdy but respectful audience.

Rotating hosts include Ed Bell, Matt Jones, Jason Francis Mc Gimsey, Emily Ruck Keene and special guest hosts.

Guest Judge for 9th Annual Dialogue Only Contest (2018)

On June 20, 2018 By nancystohlmanIn flash fiction, flash fiction challenge, Uncategorized, writing

The Dialogue Only Contest is back! Contest officially opens on June 1, 2018.

Enter Now:

9th Annual Dialogue Only Rules and Guidelines

The Rules: Compose a short story entirely of dialogue. You may use as many characters as you want. Your entry must be under 2000 words. Your entry does not have to follow standard rules for writing dialogue. Your entry cannot use any narration (this includes tag lines such as he said, she said, etc.). These are the only rules. Manipulate them however you see fit. Check out past winners and read our tips for writing good dialogue before submitting your entry.

The Winner: The winning entry will be the story that most effectively uses dialogue to deliver a powerful and engaging story as determined by our panel of judges.

Prizes: A minimum of $500 will be awarded, with at least $300 going to the grand prize winner. Our five finalists will also be published on the website. To date we’ve awarded over $10,000 to our contest finalists including over $2800 during our 8th Annual Contest. For every entry over 50, an additional $5 will be added to the total prize money.

2018 Prize Structure:

1st Prize: $300 minimum + $3 for every entry over 50
2nd Prize: $100 minimum + $1 for every entry over 50
3rd Prize: $50 minimum + $1 for every two entries over 50
4th Prize: $30 minimum + $1 for every 4 entries over 50
5th Prize: $20 minimum + $1 for every 4 entries over 50All prizes will be paid in USD via PayPal within 30 days of the announcement of winners.

Judges: All finalists will be chosen by the Staff of Bartleby Snopes. Five finalists will be submitted to the final round of voting. The order of winners will be determined by the staff of Bartleby Snopes and our two guest judges. All decisions regarding contest winners are final. Meet our guest judges below.

About Our Guest Judges:

Nancy Stohlman is the author of many books, including the forthcoming Madam Velvet’s Cabaret of Oddities (Oct 2018), The Vixen Scream and Other Bible Stories, The Monster Opera, and Fast Forward: The Mix Tape, which was a finalist for a 2011 Colorado Book Award. She is the creator and curator of The Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series, the creator of FlashNano in November, and the co-founder of Flash Fiction Retreats. Her work has been published in over 100 journals and anthologies including the Norton anthology New Micro: Very Short Stories and had been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Denver and teaches at the University of Colorado Boulder. Find out more about her at www.nancystohlman.com

Caleb Echterling’s New Year’s resolution is to write more stories in the 4th person, as soon as he figures out how to break the 5th wall into the 6th dimension. His work has appeared in Jersey Devil Press and Twisted Sister Lit Mag, among others. He tweets funny fiction using the highly original handle @CalebEchterling. You can find more of his writing at www.calebechterling.com.

Join me at the Flash Fiction Festival UK this July!

On June 12, 2018 By nancystohlmanIn flash fiction, flash fiction challenge, Uncategorized, writing

Read original article on the Festival blog here:

Sculpting Flash Fiction & Flash Books

with Nancy Stohlman

I’m so excited to be part of the second annual Flash Fiction Festival!

I’m going to be teaching two classes that both come primarily out of my 15 years as an editor. The Sculpting Flash Fiction class is my love letter to the art of editing—for me this is where the real magic happens. My own first drafts are fast and uncensored, but the sculpting of those ideas is the real dance and my favorite part. I hope to not only give some concrete tools for editing flash fiction but also to inspire an appreciate for this part of the process, which I fondly call the “puberty” of our work, where everything changes and starts to find itself.

The Flash Fiction Books class also comes out of my work as an editor. I’ve worked with authors on all sorts of books from novels and memoirs and nonfiction books, but it wasn’t until 2007 that flash fiction appeared in my world. Over the last decade flash writers have become more sophisticated in their storytelling but are often lost when they go from the individual story to the book length concept. My intention with this class is to help writers pan out and see the big picture—and embrace the creativity involved in generating a completely different artifact.

Both of these classes are usually taught as 3 or 4-week online workshops, so we’ll be compressing a lot of information into a small space in Bristol, but I hope it will flood you (as the whole weekend will!) with new ideas and a new direction.

Fun fact: I spent my early childhood in both Germany and Spain as a military brat, so travelling to Europe is always very nostalgic for me. But the last time I visited the UK it was 1981 and I was a little girl—I remember the year clearly because Charles and Diana had just gotten married and Charles and Diana memorabilia was everywhere: from Christmas ornaments and t-shirts to life-sized wax figures. It’s ironic that I’m finally returning the same year as another royal wedding!

I’m really looking forward to communing with fellow flash fiction lovers this July. Feel free to contact me ahead of time for questions about my classes or even to join me on one of my upcoming Flash Fiction Retreats with writer Kathy Fish in Costa Rica and in Italy. I can’t wait to meet so many of you in person finally! It will be like a big flashy reunion!

Find out more about the Flash Fiction Festival here.