Begin browsing through the collection (click "Start Tour" above) to read the final batch of the winners in the spring 2008 cycle of miniStories.

What is a ministory? We've deemed it to be a story told in 500 or fewer words. It is a distillation. It is naturally intense. It is easy to read on the web!

Our first miniStories competition was a fantastic success. The response from Minnesota writers was incredible--for this, the inaugural round of the competition, we received some 130 entries.

Our judges read fast and hard and made difficult choices (the quality in this first batch was really stellar). And, now, we have twelve award winners for the spring 2008 quarter, whose short stories will be published monthly, from April-June, on mnartists.org in batches of four.

Also keep in mind that we've got quarterly miniStories readings at the Ritz Theater where each season's winners perform their winning short-shorts. (The launch party in April was a hugely good time--you won't want to miss the next celebration.) The next miniStories reading is coming up in July 2008. We hope to see you there!

Have a story to tell yourself? We're in the midst of a new call for flash fiction right now: submit your stories to stories@mnartists.org through June 30. Click here for the full call for submissions.

These spring winners are spectacular stories--we couldn't be prouder to showcase the work of our inaugural miniStories authors.
--Geoff Herbach

This month's batch of four winning miniStories is:
      My First Wife by John Jodzio
      Green by Michelle Leon
      Why It's a Good Idea to Recite Poetry at the Bar by Julia Klatt Singer
      The Red Button by Margi Preus

We have a miniStories Grand Prize winner for the spring 2008 cycle of the competition: author David Bengtson! Be sure to read his longer-form original short story, commissioned by mnartists.org: The Easter Rabbits.


About the series: miniStories is mnartists.org's quarterly flash fiction competition. This new literary series is coordinated by Electric Arc Radio's Geoff Herbach (author of newly released novel, The Miracle Letters of T. Rimburg, published by Three Rivers Press), and it showcases previously unpublished short stories by Minnesota writers. These winning short-short stories are selected by authors, editors, and publishing industry veterans from across the country. Winning miniStories will be published on mnartists.org and in the e-magazine access+ENGAGE. One grand-prize winning author will be selected from each quarter's miniStories winners by series coordinator Geoff Herbach; the grand-prize winning author from each quarter's competition cycle will receive a paid commission for a longer-form short story which will be published on mnartists.org.

There will be readings at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis at the end of each quarter's contest cycle, at which miniStories winners and judges will read their fiction. An anthology collecting the inaugural year's miniStories winning fiction will be published in April 2009 and available for sale at area bookstores.


The judges for the first round of miniStories:
Lindsey Moore, Associate Editor at Crown/Three Rivers Press, NY, NY
Stephanie Wilbur Ash, Books and Literature Editor, Metro Magazine, Twin Cities
David Oppegaard, author of The Suicide Collectors, forthcoming from St. Martin's Press

SUBMISSION SPECIFICATIONS AND ENTRY PROCESS: Any and all genres of fiction submissions are welcome, but writers must be Minnesota residents and be (or become) member artists of mnartists.org to enter the contest. Registration on mnartists.org is FREE. If you need any assistance with creating an mnartists.org page or uploading images we will work with you! Please email us at info@mnartists.org. Any previously unpublished short fiction, from 5-500 words in length, may be submitted for consideration (submissions longer than 500 words will not be considered). Entrants may submit up to, but no more than, three pieces per competition cycle. Story submissions should be emailed as attachments (preferably as Word documents--.doc) to stories@mnartists.org.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for the summer 2008 cycle of miniStories. The deadline is June 30.

miniStories is a publication and reading series presented by mnartists.org, a project of the McKnight Foundation and the Walker Art Center

miniStories: April 2008
Read the four winning stories published in April 2008.

miniStories: May 2008
Read the four winning stories published in May 2008.

miniStories archive
Read all the previously winning miniStories flash fiction in the archive.

miniStories: Call for Minnesota Fiction Writers
mnartists.org seeks new short-short fiction for the summer round of this literary competition and publication series for Minnesota writers. Submission deadline is June 30, 2008.

Book Arts, Literature, Regional