Microlit, short for micro-literature, straddles the border between flash fiction and prose poetry. Typically less than 200 words, microlit pieces are evocative and immersive, bite-sized and addictive, and that’s the form Spineless Wonders has been championing across their storybombing activities for the past decade.

The art of microlit pieces is that it offers meaningful insights into character, plot development and theme despite its brief nature. Sometimes it is what is left out of microlit - what it implies or points to - that is as important as what is actually written. A microlit piece may be only one or two paragraphs long but they are often so rich with meaning that they linger in the mind and invite return visits.

Spineless Wonders has been championing the microlit format across Australia for the past decade. 

Since 2011, Spineless Wonders has hosted the joanne burns Microlit Award – an annual themed microlit competition named after one of Australia’s foremost experimental poets. 

Its concise form makes microlit also ideal for introducing the general public to contemporary Australian literature. That's why we use microlit in our #storybombing activities such as Pavement Pages, StoryPhones, StoryLounges, StoryPostcards and Microflix.

Microlit are also a great form for artists from all kinds of disciplines to respond to and interpret. That's why we have established Microflix, a film award and festival devoted entirely to the adaptation of microlit from page to screen. Composers love to improvise from these short pieces, and improv actors love to use microlit as a springboard into new scenes and stories. 

You can find examples of all these, and more, here on the Spineless Wonders website.