Nao Yare Nbadi Yonni
by Sara Hills
My husband is on a bus outside Bolgatanga, windows open to red dust, chickens and goats strapped to the roof, when he first hears the song. The one he says reminds him of our marriage. We’ve been married six years, not nearly long enough that the itch to leave should have overtaken him, but his small handwriting on thin blue paper tells another story.
I couldn’t care less about the state of the road, the paragraphs he expends on pocks, ruts, and the heat; how his seated neighbors bounce and lurch in time to the music from an overloud cassette, punctuated by bleating, by chickens squawking for freedom.
The bus, a grayish-white, reminds him of an old bone we once found while weeding our carrot bed, back when we did things together: dancing as our mirepoix sweated on the stove, drinking each other like cheap thin wine, making room for things to grow. That bone, I was sure, was the head of a femur, a dog or cow, but what did I know of death then, or of any body but his.
The song, he tells me, is incessantly upbeat. His seatmate translates the meaning as ‘You must suffer to gain,’ and I picture him, my once-husband, displaced along the dust-lined road and low painted houses of Tiébélé, their community symbolism, his windswept features. The skin of his neck and arms scarletting in the heat, freckles expanding along his exposed hairline because a hat is only a barrier to life’s experiences.
For once, I lay down his letter without finishing, without searching for buried promises or devotion, and let the cat out, the stray he asked me to stop feeding months ago, watching as it shits in the dense weeds where our carrots grew forked and long like fingers.
About the Author
Sara Hills is the author of The Evolution of Birds (Ad Hoc Fiction, 2021), winner of the 2022 Saboteur Award for best story collection. Her flash-length stories have been taught internationally in schools and workshops as well as widely published in anthologies and journals. She has won the SmokeLong Quarterly micro contest, Bath Flash Fiction Award (twice), QuietManDave flash nonfiction prize, National Flash Fiction Day micro contest, and the Retreat West quarterly prize. Originally from the Sonoran Desert, Sara lives in Warwickshire, England. Find her online at sarahillswrites.com.
Bath Flash Fiction Award Vol 10 now published!
We’re excited that the much delayed Bath Flash Fiction Award Vol 10 with stories from the three 2025 Bath Flash Fiction Awards is now published by Ad Hoc Fiction. Thank you to all contributors for their patience. The title, How to Fold A World Map is the title of a flash by Tiffany Harris a very moving story, which you can read here as well as in the anthology as it received a highly commended prize in February 2025. We love the image on the cover, an ancient beautifully drawn world map.
Those who accepted publication from the longlist of fifty stories from each round of the competition came from all over the world, and we thought it was a fitting title. Wonderful world-wide fictions folded together in one volume of 133 stories.
We’re launching the 2025 anthology with readings on the Saturday evening at the Flash Fiction Festival, July 17th-19th in Bristol and will hear from some winners, shortlisted and long listed writers. Quite a number of contributors coming to the festival will be able to pick up their free copies there. And we’ll be posting others out. There are still full or day places available at the festival if you want to come last minute. Booking at flashfictonfestival.com
How to Fold a World Map is available to buy on Amazon world wide in paperback. Ad Hoc fiction has provided links straight to purchase in many different countries.
Results of the June 2026 round of the Bath Flash Fiction Award will be out on Tuesday 30th June and many of those long listed have already accepted publication. When the October round is complete, we hope to be back to normal with our publishing schedule and have volume 11 out by the end of this year, or early next.
BFFA 2026 Novella-in-Flash Winners published!
We’re thrilled to announce that the winning novellas-in-flash from the 2026 Novella in Flash Award are now published on Amazon worldwide in paperback.
Winner: Unhoused by Victora Melekian from the USA
Runners-up. The Hilltop Hour by Joanna Campbell from the UK
and How to Get There From Here by Beth Sherman.
We love the covers, all from fabulous images/designs supplied by the authors.
Read Jude’s judge’s report and more about the authors here and more about the novellas below:
Paperback copies of these new novellas will be available at the flashfictionfestival.com bookshop and at other events organised by Bath Flash Fiction and Ad Hoc Fiction. If you are not attending the festival and would like to buy one of these fantastic novellas, the book titles link to Adhocfiction.com and Amazon in many different countries. One click sends you straight to the correct page!
Winner: Unhoused by Victoria Melekian
“Devastating and wise, Unhoused chronicles terminal illness, grief, and dark family secrets—but also human strength and the miraculous joy of community care. Each snip of prose is a quiet heartbreak. I am shattered again and again. But in the connections and in the space between these carefully observed and emotionally resonant stories, a greater tale of resilience and hope emerges. I kept thinking as I read that this is what a novella-in-flash is meant to do.
—Allison Wyss, author of Splendid Anatomies
“This is what I love most about flash—the way it keeps unfolding inside you long after you’ve finished reading. Unhoused, Victoria Melekian’s stunning novella-in-flash, does exactly that. I closed the book with hope for these characters—and for all of us—and a deeper sense of our shared humanity. This book is a beautiful entry point for new readers of the form, and a gift to those who already cherish it.”
—Judy Reeves, author of A Writer’s Book of Days
Runner-up: How to Get There from Here by Beth Sherman
“Swimming in swirling waters of dementia, this story chronicles things we lose, from car keys to memories of fireflies, and things we try to hold onto, from our sense of self to our sense of safety. Beth Sherman explores daughter-mother experiences in novella-in-flash moments, sometimes harrowing, sometimes comical. How to Get There from Here navigates these waters with a deft hand, and demonstrates how the deepest nurturing happens in the quiet spaces between.”
– Michelle Elvy, author of The Other Side of Better
With clear language that shifts easily between everyday moments and more lyrical passages, Sherman writes with honesty and restraint, making the emotional weight feel real without being overwhelming. This is a moving, accessible portrait of memory, loss, and the fragile bonds that remain even as so much slips away. A book you won’t want to miss.
– Francine Witte, Pushcart winning author of Radio Water
Beautifully crafted in luminous prose and fully grounded in its coastal location, How to Get There from Here is an unflinching yet tender story of how Lauren must now parent her mother.
– Jupiter Jones, author of The Hyena’s Daughter
Runner-up: The Hilltop Hour by Joanna Campbell
“This novella-in-flash tells the story of Cassie and Susan, both of whom contracted polio during one of the last outbreaks in the UK in the 1970s. Joanna shows how Cassie, a young girl of eleven at the time, and Susan, a newly qualified teacher, manage the experience of being in an iron-lung and learn to breathe again. After they leave hospital, we follow their different journeys as they slowly manage without the ventilator and each make a new life. This engrossing novella is striking in many ways, not least in how vividly it portrays life inside an iron lung and how frightening and painful it is to breathe unaided.”
— Jude Higgins, judge of the 2026 Bath Novella-in-Flash Award
And keep an eye open for more book posts: The delayed 2025 Bath Flash Fiction Award Anthology Vol Ten will be on the adhocfiction.com site very soon as will the delayed 2025 Flash Fiction Festival Anthology Vol Eight.
Short List BFFA June 2026 Award
Congratulations to the twenty authors who have made our Award short list (titles listed below) selected by judge Alison Woodhouse.
Author names are yet to be announced, so while it is fine to share that you are on the short list, we do ask that you do not identify yourself with your particular fiction at this stage. Results out by end of June.
Longlist BFFA June 2026
Congratulations to all the authors who have made our Award long list (titles listed below) and huge thanks to all who entered.
Author names are yet to be announced, so while it is fine to share that you are on the long list, we do ask that you do not identify yourself with your particular fiction at this stage.
Important
We receive many many entries, and occasionally some entries have the same title. We are in the process of sending an offer of publication email to all authors on the long list. Please do not assume you are on the long list unless you have received that publication offer. If in doubt, contact us.
Last Day to enter the 33rd Award!
It’s the final day for last minute writers! Thank you to everyone who’s entered already and for those who have plans to enter today, Sunday 7th June. At the time of posting this (12.01 am) you have 24 hours left to enter. The Award ends at midnight BST
The prize fund is £1460 for flash fictions up to 300 words. The judge this time is Alison Woodhouse, award winning writer and writing teacher from the UK. Results out by the end of June. Publication offer for the fifty long listed writers. One entry £9.00, two entries £15.00, three entries £18.00.
This time, instead of a last minute club badge, we’re offering a three free entries to the 34th round for the first 3 people who contact us at assist (at) bathflashfictionaward (dot) com and let us know by Monday 8th June, that they have entered at least twenty awards since we began (including this one). We’re trusting you on this as we don’t have Paypal records back that far (2015)!! We can check back a few years only.
Why have we stopped issuing the Last Minute Club badges? Because Jude used to get people to share their badges on X and now , because of its owner, she doesn’t use that platform anymore for Bath Flash or other accounts. We’re on Bluesky but Socials don’t have the same buzz as back when we began sharing badges in June 2018.
As an inspiration for a last minute entry, you could include something in your story that will make our readers smile! I rather liked seeing Smile written on a pavement near a bus stop in Bristol recently
Best wishes for a final sprint!
Jude
Fly High with Flash this June!
There’s so much going on in June for Flash Fiction fans! First, our £1460 prize fund 33rd Award for up to 300 word flash fiction ends on Sunday 7th June, with the final results out by the end of the month.
Grant Faulkner has just launched Flash Fiction June as part of the Flash Fiction Institute with a free workshop on June 16th, the flash gym and a flash open mic.
Matt Kendrick has launched the Welkin Genre Prize micro competition for four categories of genre writing for 100 word stories. Closes 30th June. Plus he is offering two Welkin Press Micro workshops on Thursday 4th June and Thursday 11th June respectively.
If you are coming to the flash fiction festival in July, in Bristol, you can enter the Pokrass Prize by 21st for a chance of a £50 cash prize and books.
National Flash Fiction Day UK is taking place on Saturday June 13th with the incredibly popular Flash Flood and Write- In, happening during the day.
National Flash Fiction Day New Zealand is posting the winners of their Micromadness contest one a day until June 21st, National Flash Fiction Day New Zealand. And other events to celebrate the day will be announced soon.
Check out all the links for inspiration!
And why not use the picture of a balloon resting by the little toll house near Jude’s house to prompt you to take off and reach new heights with your stories!
A Birthday wish
It’s just ten days to go until the £1460 prize fund 33rd Award, ends on Sunday June 7th. Thank you to everyone from around the world who has submitted so far.
It’s my birthday today and I am even more of an old person now. My birthday wish for the current Award is that we have a last minute rush of positive stories about the process of aging. Writers very frequently submit stories about old people suffering with dementia or being alone after loss of loved ones. There are also a lot of stories from the point of view of a grieving family member after a grandparent or parent has died. There are excellent stories on these subjects. And there are many different angles to take. But there are hardly any submitted about people in good health having vibrant creative lives as they grow older or having funny or interesting relationships with others.
It’s always great in a competition to read a flash on a new subject that is cheering or hopeful. For myself, I hope I can carry on my writing projects for many more years. I founded Bath Flash Fiction Award eleven years ago when I was in my mid sixties and the flash fiction festival weekend that I direct has been going strong since 2017. I’ve also written a lot of flash fictions during this time. I am not intending to stop anytime soon.
Your Two Weeks to Go Prompts
It’s just over two weeks to go until the deadline of our June Award on Sunday, 7th June at midnight, BST. Still time to write and refine.
Kathy Fish, in one of her recent substack posts talked about the value of prompts. Not to be sniffed at. I have asked many judges for BFFA and also prize winners to give prompts. Here are a few of them to get you going or help you carry on further. Read in Full
Q & A with Shelley Roche-Jacques, 1st prize winner, 32nd Award
With just over three weeks left until the deadline for our 33rd Award, on Sunday June 7th, here’s a really interesting interview with Shelley Roche-Jacques who won first prize in the February Award. She talks about how the story came into being and the ways she worked on it, tells us about her other writing and teaching and gives some great advice on writing entries for a competition. Read her first prize winning story linked below. And judge Ingrid Jendzrejewski’s comments on it and the other winners.
Read in Full