Kelly Pedro
@kellypedro.bsky.social
Winner CRAFT '24 Flash Prose Prize • Shortlisted: SmokeLong '25 Flash Prize, ROOM '22 Fiction Prize • Words: PRISM international, The New Quarterly, Cleaver, Flash Frog, Fictive Dream, Moon City Review, TLR, JMWW, FracturedLit ++• SmokeLong Fellow '24
Pinned
Kelly Pedro
@kellypedro.bsky.social
· Apr 11
Pareidolia by Kelly Pedro - CRAFT
My mother sees my father’s face everywhere. Last week it was in our neighbour’s wilting asters. Then, an angry version in a banana she decided to save. “Maybe it’ll brown into the Virgin Mary, and we ...
www.craftliterary.com
Thrilled that my winning piece is up at CRAFT Literary today and so lovely to read what @megpokrass.bsky.social had to say about it. Thank you, Meg!
I'd love if you gave it a read.
www.craftliterary.com/2025/04/11/p...
#writing #FlashFiction #WritingCommunity
I'd love if you gave it a read.
www.craftliterary.com/2025/04/11/p...
#writing #FlashFiction #WritingCommunity
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
Help us celebrate the more than 60 publications reported to us by our workshop participants in December! Onward, trousers!
www.smokelong.com/december-wor...
www.smokelong.com/december-wor...
December Workshop Celebration 2025 - SmokeLong Quarterly
Each month we celebrate our current and previous workshop participants’ publications reported to us through Submittable (The SmokeLong Workshop Prize). Each of the publications below, with the excepti...
www.smokelong.com
January 2, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Help us celebrate the more than 60 publications reported to us by our workshop participants in December! Onward, trousers!
www.smokelong.com/december-wor...
www.smokelong.com/december-wor...
It's the most writing fun you'll have all year!
Wherever you are on this planet, you can write with us this March. SmokeLong's March Micro Marathon is a prompt-a-day frenzy in a supportive, fun workshop environment with webinars and open mics. Read more about it and book by January 12th to get a $25 discount. www.smokelong.com/the-march-mi...
January 1, 2026 at 6:56 PM
It's the most writing fun you'll have all year!
"Let’s agree that it was an accident, what happened when the tourist interrupted us choosing our king." I've been thinking about this Katherine Plumhoff flash since I read it in @smokelong.bsky.social ... the building temp, the POV, it's so good. www.smokelong.com/stories/good... #FlashFiction
Good Sign of Future Happiness - SmokeLong Quarterly
Let’s agree that it was an accident, what happened when the tourist interrupted us choosing our king. All 12 of us boys were climbing on each other’s shoulders, turning our forearms into lances, charg...
www.smokelong.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:36 PM
"Let’s agree that it was an accident, what happened when the tourist interrupted us choosing our king." I've been thinking about this Katherine Plumhoff flash since I read it in @smokelong.bsky.social ... the building temp, the POV, it's so good. www.smokelong.com/stories/good... #FlashFiction
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
Spotlight on "Preserves" by @kellypedro.bsky.social who chose to structure the story around the seasons, "and soon after, the idea of how we feed or starve ourselves emerged"
tahomaliteraryreview.com/selections/p...
tahomaliteraryreview.com/selections/p...
Preserves - Tahoma Literary Review
In winter, Lara eats root vegetables from the cellar—crisp carrots and sugar beets that snap between her calcified teeth. Outside, the snow is like
tahomaliteraryreview.com
December 21, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Spotlight on "Preserves" by @kellypedro.bsky.social who chose to structure the story around the seasons, "and soon after, the idea of how we feed or starve ourselves emerged"
tahomaliteraryreview.com/selections/p...
tahomaliteraryreview.com/selections/p...
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
We'll be reading stories for ✨ What Elegant Stars: Queer Tales of Impossible Style ✨ from January 15th to April 15th.
Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars.
<6k words. 8¢/word. simsub ☑️. multiple submissions 🚫.
www.neonhemlock.com/submissions
Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars.
<6k words. 8¢/word. simsub ☑️. multiple submissions 🚫.
www.neonhemlock.com/submissions
December 20, 2025 at 2:18 AM
We'll be reading stories for ✨ What Elegant Stars: Queer Tales of Impossible Style ✨ from January 15th to April 15th.
Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars.
<6k words. 8¢/word. simsub ☑️. multiple submissions 🚫.
www.neonhemlock.com/submissions
Give us stories of satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars.
<6k words. 8¢/word. simsub ☑️. multiple submissions 🚫.
www.neonhemlock.com/submissions
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
"I held out my puckered palm, and my father began dropping the red pins gently into it, each making a little tink as they landed."
Wow, I really love this story by @kellypedro.bsky.social in @fracturedlit.bsky.social 💙💙💙
Wow, I really love this story by @kellypedro.bsky.social in @fracturedlit.bsky.social 💙💙💙
I can't believe I'm ending the year by publishing a flash in dream lit mag fracturedlit.bsky.social. Flash takes time. I wrote this 2 years ago and it's had many edits since, including a stop in smokelong.bsky.social Fitness. Thanks tommydeanwriter.bsky.social and team!
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
Leaving | Fractured
fracturedlit.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:28 PM
"I held out my puckered palm, and my father began dropping the red pins gently into it, each making a little tink as they landed."
Wow, I really love this story by @kellypedro.bsky.social in @fracturedlit.bsky.social 💙💙💙
Wow, I really love this story by @kellypedro.bsky.social in @fracturedlit.bsky.social 💙💙💙
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
‘My mother kept a map in her closet with pins scattered across it—green were all the places she’d been, and red were the places she still wanted to go.’ Read this gorgeous flash by @kellypedro.bsky.social in @fracturedlit.bsky.social
Beautifully layered and poignant.
Beautifully layered and poignant.
I can't believe I'm ending the year by publishing a flash in dream lit mag fracturedlit.bsky.social. Flash takes time. I wrote this 2 years ago and it's had many edits since, including a stop in smokelong.bsky.social Fitness. Thanks tommydeanwriter.bsky.social and team!
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
Leaving | Fractured
fracturedlit.com
December 19, 2025 at 2:50 PM
‘My mother kept a map in her closet with pins scattered across it—green were all the places she’d been, and red were the places she still wanted to go.’ Read this gorgeous flash by @kellypedro.bsky.social in @fracturedlit.bsky.social
Beautifully layered and poignant.
Beautifully layered and poignant.
I can't believe I'm ending the year by publishing a flash in dream lit mag fracturedlit.bsky.social. Flash takes time. I wrote this 2 years ago and it's had many edits since, including a stop in smokelong.bsky.social Fitness. Thanks tommydeanwriter.bsky.social and team!
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
Leaving | Fractured
fracturedlit.com
December 19, 2025 at 2:18 PM
I can't believe I'm ending the year by publishing a flash in dream lit mag fracturedlit.bsky.social. Flash takes time. I wrote this 2 years ago and it's had many edits since, including a stop in smokelong.bsky.social Fitness. Thanks tommydeanwriter.bsky.social and team!
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
I've just read 'Leaving', flash fiction by @kellypedro.bsky.social published in @fracturedlit.bsky.social. I really liked it, especially the ending. At first, I feared something like this would happen, and then I knew it would because, of course, it couldn't be otherwise.
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
Leaving | Fractured
fracturedlit.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I've just read 'Leaving', flash fiction by @kellypedro.bsky.social published in @fracturedlit.bsky.social. I really liked it, especially the ending. At first, I feared something like this would happen, and then I knew it would because, of course, it couldn't be otherwise.
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
fracturedlit.com/leaving/
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
🧵 This morning I was reminded by Kumail Nanjiani (on the Wild Card podcast) of the importance of learning from your artistic community. So I thought it would be fun to do a thread of at least one thing I've learned from each writer/book/story I've read this year. Add yours & let's keep it going!
December 18, 2025 at 3:12 PM
🧵 This morning I was reminded by Kumail Nanjiani (on the Wild Card podcast) of the importance of learning from your artistic community. So I thought it would be fun to do a thread of at least one thing I've learned from each writer/book/story I've read this year. Add yours & let's keep it going!
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
Congrats and good luck to @mooncityreview.bsky.social's 2025 Best Small Fictions nominees!
@mynachang.bsky.social, @claudiamonpere.bsky.social, @kellypedro.bsky.social, @erinvachon.bsky.social, Nora Wagner
@mynachang.bsky.social, @claudiamonpere.bsky.social, @kellypedro.bsky.social, @erinvachon.bsky.social, Nora Wagner
December 18, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Congrats and good luck to @mooncityreview.bsky.social's 2025 Best Small Fictions nominees!
@mynachang.bsky.social, @claudiamonpere.bsky.social, @kellypedro.bsky.social, @erinvachon.bsky.social, Nora Wagner
@mynachang.bsky.social, @claudiamonpere.bsky.social, @kellypedro.bsky.social, @erinvachon.bsky.social, Nora Wagner
What company to be in! I feel so lucky that my work has the support of literary magazines like @mooncityreview.bsky.social. If you're looking for a phenomenal home for your work, this is the place! Thanks @mczyzniejewski.bsky.social and team for this nomination!
Congrats and good luck to @mooncityreview.bsky.social's 2025 Best Small Fictions nominees!
@mynachang.bsky.social, @claudiamonpere.bsky.social, @kellypedro.bsky.social, @erinvachon.bsky.social, Nora Wagner
@mynachang.bsky.social, @claudiamonpere.bsky.social, @kellypedro.bsky.social, @erinvachon.bsky.social, Nora Wagner
December 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM
What company to be in! I feel so lucky that my work has the support of literary magazines like @mooncityreview.bsky.social. If you're looking for a phenomenal home for your work, this is the place! Thanks @mczyzniejewski.bsky.social and team for this nomination!
The new issue of @smokelong.bsky.social is out and there are so many gems, including Claire Y. Guo's Love; Sigh that starts: "Ma collects birth stories as lozenges and swallows them when she is tired." Read this contest winner: www.smokelong.com/stories/love...
Love ; Sigh - SmokeLong Quarterly
Ma collects birth stories as lozenges and swallows them when she is tired. Not of her own, because she was born between the fingers of rice paddies, quickly and flush with shame, but of me. I was a ci...
www.smokelong.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
The new issue of @smokelong.bsky.social is out and there are so many gems, including Claire Y. Guo's Love; Sigh that starts: "Ma collects birth stories as lozenges and swallows them when she is tired." Read this contest winner: www.smokelong.com/stories/love...
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
Issue 90 cover reveal! Out on Monday. Including the winners of the SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest 2025 🏆
December 13, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Issue 90 cover reveal! Out on Monday. Including the winners of the SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest 2025 🏆
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
We have winners! The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest was a bear this year. So many excellent micros. These are our top 7 and will be published Monday in Issue 90! www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest — The Winners! - SmokeLong Quarterly
Well that was difficult—and so rewarding. This time of year is always an avalanche of great flash. From August to December we read for The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest (The Mikey), the SmokeLong Work...
www.smokelong.com
December 12, 2025 at 7:26 PM
We have winners! The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest was a bear this year. So many excellent micros. These are our top 7 and will be published Monday in Issue 90! www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
"Alone, I’d neglect my hygiene. I’d forget to feed the cats or pay our bills and lose my phone. In the end, I’d forget language altogether, reduced to aping lines from television shows and podcasts and graphic tees." What a stellar flash by @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social #WritingCommunity #FlashFiction
ICYMI: "On Your 60th Birthday, Resembling Our Mother, Dead at 61," flash fiction by @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social:
On Your 60th Birthday, Resembling Our Mother, Dead at 61 by Patricia Q. Bidar
You emerge from your apartment, wheatfield hair ablaze in the afternoon sun. My big sister, skinny in a form-fitting dress. Today you are 60. I smooth my Hawaiian shirt over my paunch. “Birth…
okaydonkeymag.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:49 PM
"Alone, I’d neglect my hygiene. I’d forget to feed the cats or pay our bills and lose my phone. In the end, I’d forget language altogether, reduced to aping lines from television shows and podcasts and graphic tees." What a stellar flash by @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social #WritingCommunity #FlashFiction
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
Join us in congratulating Jay Morse. His nonfiction piece, "Triumph," first published in Issue 30 Spring 2024, was just listed among the "Notable Essays & Literary Nonfiction of 2024" in The Best American Essays 2025.
You can read the full story here:
www.doorisajarmagazine.net/articles/not...
You can read the full story here:
www.doorisajarmagazine.net/articles/not...
"Notable Essays & Literary Nonfiction of 2024" in The Best American…
Door is a Jar is a print and digital literary magazine of poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, drama and artwork. Our publication focuses on writing that is accessible for all readers.
www.doorisajarmagazine.net
December 4, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Join us in congratulating Jay Morse. His nonfiction piece, "Triumph," first published in Issue 30 Spring 2024, was just listed among the "Notable Essays & Literary Nonfiction of 2024" in The Best American Essays 2025.
You can read the full story here:
www.doorisajarmagazine.net/articles/not...
You can read the full story here:
www.doorisajarmagazine.net/articles/not...
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
Out TODAY, or so I'm told.
Ecstatically grateful to @saralippmann.bsky.social for her kind words about my upcoming collection!
#workingclasslit #gritlit #UnsolicitedPress #IndieLitScene #IndieBooksMatter #RebelReaders #BookCommunity #ReadIndie #BookReview #LitCulture #PoetryAndProse #FictionThatBites
#workingclasslit #gritlit #UnsolicitedPress #IndieLitScene #IndieBooksMatter #RebelReaders #BookCommunity #ReadIndie #BookReview #LitCulture #PoetryAndProse #FictionThatBites
December 2, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Out TODAY, or so I'm told.
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
Our workshop participants reported more than 40 publications in November. While they don't yet rule the world—unfortunately—they rock it.
www.smokelong.com/smokelong-wo...
www.smokelong.com/smokelong-wo...
SmokeLong Workshop Celebration – November 2025 - SmokeLong Quarterly
Each month we celebrate our current and previous workshop participants’ publications reported to us through Submittable (The SmokeLong Workshop Prize). Each of the publications below, with the excepti...
www.smokelong.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Our workshop participants reported more than 40 publications in November. While they don't yet rule the world—unfortunately—they rock it.
www.smokelong.com/smokelong-wo...
www.smokelong.com/smokelong-wo...
My first Pushcart nom! Thank you @mooncityreview.bsky.social and @mczyzniejewski.bsky.social for loving my weird flash story about a grandmother's ghostly legs as much as I do. And thanks to @smokelong.bsky.social Fitness where this story began, and my workshop mates who offered feedback!
Congrats to @mooncityreview.bsky.social's 2025 @pushcartprize.bsky.social nominees: Mikaela Hagen, @gabrielwelsch.bsky.social, @jstewartmiller.bsky.social, @duffusmatthew.bsky.social, Claire Hero, and @kellypedro.bsky.social.
Good luck!
Good luck!
December 2, 2025 at 10:38 PM
My first Pushcart nom! Thank you @mooncityreview.bsky.social and @mczyzniejewski.bsky.social for loving my weird flash story about a grandmother's ghostly legs as much as I do. And thanks to @smokelong.bsky.social Fitness where this story began, and my workshop mates who offered feedback!
"I imagine our faces shining, spreading luminous like the sun in that clearing until the light is all I can see—light that has been there all along..." I can't say enough how incredible this story by Madeeha Hashmi is. Make time for it today! @ex-puritan.bsky.social ex-puritan.ca/thousands-of...
WINNER: "Thousands of Longings Like These"
Read the 2025 winner of the Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence in Fiction, "Thousands of Longings Like These" by Madeeha Hashmi in Issue 71: Fall 2025 of The Ex-Puritan, then check out the res...
ex-puritan.ca
December 2, 2025 at 3:38 PM
"I imagine our faces shining, spreading luminous like the sun in that clearing until the light is all I can see—light that has been there all along..." I can't say enough how incredible this story by Madeeha Hashmi is. Make time for it today! @ex-puritan.bsky.social ex-puritan.ca/thousands-of...
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
You can still join our free series of write-ins and open mics--five events each week until December 14th! Sign up for ZERO dollars. Yep. This one's on us.
www.smokelong.com/ready-for-pr...
www.smokelong.com/ready-for-pr...
Ready for Promptember 2025? - SmokeLong Quarterly
Join the SmokeLong community for Promptember, a mysterious intermonth happening between November and December of live write-in events designed to light a fire under your writing life. Participate in o...
www.smokelong.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:42 PM
You can still join our free series of write-ins and open mics--five events each week until December 14th! Sign up for ZERO dollars. Yep. This one's on us.
www.smokelong.com/ready-for-pr...
www.smokelong.com/ready-for-pr...
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
FlashGiving! Today is the last day to get your name in the hat to possibly win $200 holiday $$. Just like/share this post or the original one. We'll choose a winner randomly tonight and announce tomorrow! Be sure to tag @smokelong.bsky.social to let us know you've entered!
November 26, 2025 at 1:32 PM
FlashGiving! Today is the last day to get your name in the hat to possibly win $200 holiday $$. Just like/share this post or the original one. We'll choose a winner randomly tonight and announce tomorrow! Be sure to tag @smokelong.bsky.social to let us know you've entered!
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
If you have, like, 30 seconds you can vote for the best lit mags and help make a significant difference to some hard working, kind, and reliable magazines. And maybe win some cash yourself!
www.chillsubs.com/best-lit-mag...
@chillsubs.bsky.social
www.chillsubs.com/best-lit-mag...
@chillsubs.bsky.social
Best Lit Mag Awards - Chill Subs
Welcome to Chill Subs' 3rd annual Community Favorites Best Lit Mag Awards! Vote for your favorite literary magazines and celebrate the publications that make our community thrive.
www.chillsubs.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:37 PM
If you have, like, 30 seconds you can vote for the best lit mags and help make a significant difference to some hard working, kind, and reliable magazines. And maybe win some cash yourself!
www.chillsubs.com/best-lit-mag...
@chillsubs.bsky.social
www.chillsubs.com/best-lit-mag...
@chillsubs.bsky.social
Reposted by Kelly Pedro
I spent over a year of my life writing this collaborative craft book with eleven other (fantastic! talented! good-looking!) writers.
"Sometimes a story emerges fully formed in your mind, and sometimes it’s an onion, requiring several ‘peels’ to get to the real, eye-watering heart of the matter."
"Sometimes a story emerges fully formed in your mind, and sometimes it’s an onion, requiring several ‘peels’ to get to the real, eye-watering heart of the matter."
November 5, 2025 at 9:12 PM
I spent over a year of my life writing this collaborative craft book with eleven other (fantastic! talented! good-looking!) writers.
"Sometimes a story emerges fully formed in your mind, and sometimes it’s an onion, requiring several ‘peels’ to get to the real, eye-watering heart of the matter."
"Sometimes a story emerges fully formed in your mind, and sometimes it’s an onion, requiring several ‘peels’ to get to the real, eye-watering heart of the matter."