Did you know that rats smile with their ears? Or, that they enjoy being tickled?
Whilst in Western culture rats are viewed as pets or pests, in Chinese culture being a Rat suggests you might be clever, a quick thinker and successful. Love them or hate them, we’re looking for texts about rats. Whether it’s two-faced rats, lab rats, pet rats, hoarding rats, smart rats, or wealthy rats we want to hear your best story about rats.
To mark the 2020 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rat we are seeking submissions that may reflect the author’s cultural background or lived experience. They may emanate from other forms of connection the author has, or has had, with countries and cultures which celebrate the lunar calendar. Or they may simply be works of the imagination created in response to the theme.
Deadline: 30 October 2019
Submit here.
Texts submitted in English and other languages are welcome.
Submissions can be in the form of:
- microlit (microfiction or prose poems) up to 200 words; OR
- short fiction (in any genre and form such as prose, dramatic monologue etc) up to 2000 words.
Submissions will be judged by a team of editors and actors who will be looking for prose writing which will translate well into live performance. Selected submissions will be performed at the Little Fictions Lunar New Year shows in February, 2020. Selected submissions may also be broadcast on community radio and via podcast and included in a range of activities staged by Little Fictions Productions and #storybombing events staged by Spineless Wonders. Submissions may also be adapted for the screen as part of the Microflix Film Festival. Authors will be notified if their work is to be included in these activities and a modest royalty will be paid in each instance.
Submission Guidelines / Conditions of Entry
- Submissions will only be accepted via the Submittable on-line link, here.
- Entry fee is $10.00 for each submission. (There is no limit to the number of entries.)
- Entrants must be over 18 years of age and must be either residing in Australia or be an Australian citizen living anywhere.
- Maximum word limit is 2,000 words. Entries may consist of a single story or multiple stories which in total do not exceed 2,000 words.
- Submissions should not be under consideration by another competition or publication.
- Submissions should not have been previously published. If you have a query regarding this proviso, contact info@shortaustralianstories.com.au
- Submissions must be suitable for public performance.
- By submitting to the Little Fictions Call Out, writers grant Spineless Wonders licence to perform the work as part of Little Fictions, to record and, if applicable, to offer this recording for broadcast on public radio and other free-to-air media.
- Intellectual Property shall remain with the writer. We request that Little Fictions be acknowledged in any future print publication of the work.
- The closing date for this round of submissions is Oct 30. Entries will be accepted up until midnight. Late entries will not be accepted.
- Submitters will be notified of the outcome of their entry.
- All selected entries may be edited.