Slender Thorns
In 2024, ArabLit and Komet Kashakeel held our first joint Arabic Flash Fiction Prize, for stories 1,001 words and fewer. From a pool of more than 800 stories, our three celebrated judges (Mansoura Ez Eldin, Shahla Ujayli, and Sarah Enany) chose fifteen finalists.
Here, we offer interviews with the fifteen writers, news updates about their work, their short work in translation—and read by voice actors—as well as updates about the bilingual collection of their work, Slender Thorns: Award-winning Flash Fiction in Arabic and English, forthcoming March 1, 2025.
Flash Fiction Winner: ‘A Slender Thorn Digs into My Foot’
This tender story won the ArabLit/Komet Kashakeel 2024 Arabic Flash Fiction Prize and is featured in our new collection, Slender Thorns, which you can buy as a print or ebook. You can also hear this story read by professional voice actor Houda Echouafni, in Arabic and English, at our YouTube channel ...
Publication Day for ‘Slender Thorns’
It's Publication Day for our new short-story anthology, Slender Thorns: Award-winning Flash Fiction in Arabic and English ...
Flash Fiction Questionnaire: With Doha Saleh
Egyptian writer Doha Saleh was a finalist for the 2024 prize with her story “Mercy Killing!” (!قتلٌ رحيم). This project is funded by the British Council’s Beyond Literature Borders programme corun by Speaking Volumes Live Literature Productions ...
‘Reading is a Lifestyle’: By Flash Fiction Finalist Emad Saad
Syrian writer Emad Saad was a finalist for the 2024 prize with his story “Bird with a Broken Wing” (طائر بجناح مكسور). This project is funded by the British Council’s Beyond Literature Borders programme corun by Speaking Volumes Live Literature Productions ...
New Short Fiction from Syria: ‘A Bird with a Broken Wing’
Editor's note: This story -- one of the finalists for the 2024 Arabic Flash Fiction Prize, co-run by ArabLit and Komet Kashakeel -- is set to appear in a 2025 publication. However, author Imad Saad requested that, because of the current extraordinary events in Syria, it could appear early. A Bird with a Broken Wing By Imad Saad Translated by Mandy McClure I don’t know why, but every time I came out of an interview ...
Flash Fiction Questionnaire: With Haidara Assad
Syrian writer Haidara Nabeel Assad was a finalist for the 2024 prize with his story “The Boy on the Bus with Gooseflesh” (فتى الحافلة ذو القشعريرة) ...
