‘Once Upon A Time in Aotearoa’: Today Is National Flash Fiction Day in New Zealand
Firstly I have to own up: ‘Once Upon A Time In Aotearoa’ is the fabulous title of Tina Makereti’s equally fabulous short story collection—with a title like that you have to check it out if you haven’t already! And if you haven’t already, well then, you definitely should have!
But in the spirit of short fiction, or in this case very short fiction, today is National Flash Fiction Day in New Zealand and I believe several fun events are happening around the country. To find out what’s happening in your area, check out the Flash Events page, here.
And there are two great events happening right here in good ole quaky-shaky Christchurch:
* The Hagley Writers’ Institute are putting on two Flash readings with Christchurch City Libraries’ branches: “Hear tiny stories with a big wallop by Hagley Writers” at —
- Peterborough Central 11 – 11.30
- Upper Riccarton 12 – 12.30
* Literary journal Catalyst is also getting into the Flash spirit and hosting an online fiesta of flash fiction in the form of a ‘24 Hour Flash‘ — on right now, here. And you could be published as a result, so definitely worth a look, if not a shot.
Plus it’s not just Christchurch and other realtime locales round the country: the Tuesday Poem community also celebrated Flash Fiction this week, both on the central Hub (curated by guest editor Michelle Elvy) here, and on the sites of the community’s poets — see links in the sidebar!
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Note (prompted by Paul’s comment): ‘Aotearoa’ is the Maori name for ‘New Zealand’ and both names are official so both/either may be used. ‘Aotearoa’ translates as ‘land of the long white cloud.’
I admit having to google “Aoteraoa”
Learned something today! 🙂
Hey Paul–you will see I have added a “note” to the post courtesy of your comment. But glad you learned something. 😉