Kathy Fish

@kathyfish

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Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jul 12

The handwritten issue of Keyhole (2008) was especially cool...

Cover of Keyhole Magazine, Issue 5, Fall, 2008 Handwritten Issue with names of contributors: Steve Auscherman, Matt Bell, Aaron Burch, Blake Butler, Kim Chinquee, Elizabeth Ellen, Kathy Fish, Sherry Flick, Roseanne Griffith, Jenny Hanning, Juligh Howard-Hobson, Stephanie Johnson, Karen Lillis, Dennis Mahagin, Corey Mesler, Kevin Sampsell, Noel Sloboda, Claudia Smith, Kelly Spitzer, Beth Thomas, Laura Van Den Berg, William Walsh, Shellie Zacharia

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jul 12

Organizing bookshelves (again, ha). Print places I've published in print. There are some oldies here! Night Train, Keyhole, Cranky, Sleepingfish, Staccato, Wild Strawberries, Quick Fiction. I see familiar names in those T of Cs. Great litmags. I miss them. 💙

Journal covers L - R, top: f(r)iction, Night Train, Newfound Journal, Indiana Review, Keyhole, Heavy Feather Review, Keyhole again, bottom: Sleepingfish, Cranky, New South, Yemassee Review, Staccato, Best of the Web anthology, ELJ, Wild Strawberries, Split Lip, Staccato again

Book & Journal covers L - R top: Past Ten anthology, Brink, Copper Nickel, Quick Fiction, Washington Square Review, Together We Can Bury It, The Norton Reader, Ploughshares, Short Form Creative Writing, Best Small Fictions, Smokelong Quarterly Ten Years, Quick Fiction again, Best Small Fictions again, bottom: A Peculiar Feeing of Restlessness, Quick Fiction again, Best Microfiction, Wild Life: Collected Works, New Micro, Flash Fiction America, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Advanced Creative Nonfiction, Critical Insights on Flash Fiction, Best Small Fictions again, Wild Life, Rift

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jul 10

A friend just reminded me that I’ll be teaching my three-hour workshop in England at the Flash Fiction Festival ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! I can’t wait to see everyone again! ❤️

Trinity College in Bristol, England. Beautiful brick facade amongst trees, green lawn in the foreground. Blue skies.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jul 2

My daughter's home from Portland for a few days and we celebrated her birthday last night with a cake that tasted much better than it looked. 😅 Have a wonderful, restful, fun long weekend, everyone. ❤️

Photo of my daughter and me taken outdoors in front of the Denver Art Museum.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jun 16

Beautiful book mail: An exceptional collection by an extraordinary writer. Congratulations, @pdforan.bsky.social and to @alkratz.bsky.social for this wonderful debut title! 🌟

Photo of my hand holding "Songs from the Bilmp Ruins" by Pat Foran in front of my window looking out to my back yard. Cover features a simple drawing of a dark sun dripping yellow and a figure with arms raised and a heart on the chest. Title above and author's name below.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jun 15

My June newsletter. Hope you enjoy! open.substack.com/pub/artoffla...

1638 A.D. Baroque Painting from Spain: Moses holding the stone tablets on which are written the Ten Commandments

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jun 7

I'm rich in books! Excited to read / reread collections by Jared Yates Sexton, @stephanieaustin.bsky.social @sabrinahicks.bsky.social Leslie O'Connel, @luannecastle.bsky.social @gilloshaughnessy.bsky.social & poems by @lesliearchibald.bsky.social 💙 Congratulations, all!

Seven beautiful books laid out on a kitchen counter.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jun 6

Update: There are now just TWO spaces open for this November's residential workshop in gorgeous West Viriginia! I'd love for you to join @joybaglio.bsky.social & Sarah Freligh & me. You will write LOTS! 🍁🍂

A Reason to Write presents a "Generative Flash Workshop with Kathy Fish Nov. 2-6, 2026 with black & white photos of Kathy Fish, Joy Deva Baglio, Sarah Freligh, & Ellen Weeren. Further info at https://areasontowrite.com/workshops/kathy-fish-2026-workshop/

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jun 5

Happy Friday! I don't know which AWP Hobart was giving these away, but I have had this shot glass a very long time. @aaronburch.bsky.social

A shot glass containing gin, next to it is a tall glass filled with ice, tonic water, and a slice of lime on a kitchen counter. The shot glass says "Hobart" in large letters and "another literary journal" in small letters beneath it.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jun 3

Hey guys, who is publishing the best flash chapbooks these days? I was rereading Sara Levine's 2011 chapbook Short Dark Oracles today and missing the amazing Caketrain Press.

cover of Sara Levine's 2011 chapbook, Short Dark Oracles. Artistic image of a woman whose head is full of colorful fruit and flowers on a dark background featuring title and author name at the top.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jun 3

This is the kind of nudge from an online retailer that I cannot abide...

Subject line of an email that reads, in all caps: HEY KATHY FISH, STILL THINKING ABOUT US?

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jun 1

I’ve always taught the power of repetition in flash fiction, and flash writers these days use it widely. To me, it helps to create a felt experience in the reader. It gives the feeling of incantation, building on emotion and meaning as it goes. The new generation of flash fiction writers understand repetition is not wasteful if used to its fullest advantage.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· May 21

Hey friends, have you used poetic forms or devices in your flash fiction? I'm writing about this now and I'd LOVE to include some more published examples. Thanks!

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· May 4

I’m so touched and honored by this mention in this excellent survey of flash fiction by Gary Lippmann in Literary Hub. More here: lithub.com/micro-sudden...

"Anyone’s pantheon of fine short-short fictioneers would include Isaac Babel, Lydia Davis, Barry Yourgrau, Diane Williams, Thomas Bernhard in The Voice Imitator, Robert Walser, Mary Robison, and Czeslaw Milosz in Road Side Dog. To that, I’d add Jayne Anne Phillips, Yasunari Kawabata in his Palm-of-the-Hand tales, Kathy Fish, Etgar Keret, Sherrie Flick, Jamaica Kincaid with her luminescent “Girl,” Spencer Holst in The Zebra Storyteller (which features “On Hope,” one of the most enchanting stories I know), Pamela Painter, the Baudelaire of Paris Spleen, and Richard Brautigan, whose winsome Revenge of the Lawn is my most cherished short-short collection." Gary Lippmann

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Mar 19

Hey friends, if you’re signed up for THIS Saturday’s 3-in-90 workshop, you will have received your Webex link at the time of registration. Please locate it now and come ready to write at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday! If you can’t find it, let me know, and I will happily re-send it to you!

Basic stock image from overhead perspective of wooden table featuring a laptop, cup of coffee, spectacles, stack of books, woman's hands writing in a notebook.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Feb 25

Upcoming! My next Flash Immersion Extravaganza for paid subscribers begins THIS Monday, March 2nd. Twenty-Two days of writing and reading together with fun prompts & inspirations! I’d love to have you join us! 💙 artofflashfiction.substack.com/subscribe?pl...

Photo of Kathy Fish, seated and smiling, wearing teal colored top and large glasses. Text above: "Beauty in brevity: Flash Extravaganza - Day One." Text below: "The Art of Flash Fiction, artofflashfiction.substack.com

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Feb 19

ATTN: Writers! TWO spaces left! Join us in beautiful Colorado in September! mailchi.mp/ac8585353954...

Thirteen happy writers (men and women of various ages) standing on the steps of a staircase outside a rustic log cabin in Colorado, Shadowcliff Lodge in Grand Lake. Stone chimney, blue sky, aspen tree in the background.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jan 27

Hmmm...

Photo of Patricia and Mark McCloskey, in St. Louis, pointing guns at demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd, attached to a post on X.com from the Climate Defiance account with text: "Patricia and mark McCloskey brought weapons to a protest. They were honored as keynote speakers at the 2020 RNC.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jan 22

I love pulling books off my shelves for stories to teach, then finding myself sitting on the floor and an hour's gone by...lost in this favorite from @robertlopez-bkln-1.bsky.social

Cover image of the novel, Kamby Bolongo Mean River" by the author Robert Lopez, featuring a gray green cover and image of a black telephone cord, title in black lettering, author name in white.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jan 21

Thanks to all who've signed up for THIS SATURDAY'S 3-in-90 workshop! The session link was sent upon registration. Please locate it and come ready to write at 1:00 pm Eastern on the 24th. We're going to write up a storm! (Let me know if you can't find the link, I'll re-send. Still time to join us!)

Session Description for Originality of Language: Voice, Music, Risk: In this session, we’ll focus on our prose and the sentence itself: voice, diction, rhythm, and word choice. Through craft discussion and close readings, we’ll examine how writers create momentum and intensity, how sound and syntax shape meaning, and how risk at the sentence level opens new possibilities. You’ll write to three prompts designed to loosen habits, heighten attention, and encourage bold choices. This session is ideal for writers who want their prose to feel more alive, precise, and daring.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jan 20

Well, congratulations to me. I’m 35 pounds lighter today than I was one year ago. This is largely due to walking three and a half miles every day with a fourteen pound pack on my back. Turns out, I walk REALLY fast when I’m mad. 💪

Selfie of me, bundled up in blue coat and faux fur cap, large blue glasses, with snowy Colorado scene in the background.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jan 12

FINAL DAY of the Early Bird Special for my upcoming 3-in-90 workshops! Would love for you to join us! 💙 www.artofflashfiction.com/threein90?ut...

Testimonial: “Appreciation post for Kathy Fish- the most incredible flash fiction teacher and all-round amazing human! You have inspired so many stories - and I have just finished your Flash in Motion: Writing with Power and Urgency workshop - and a whole story just poured out of me thanks to your prompts. WOW. You never cease to amaze me with your teaching and I am endlessly grateful!” ~Becs Pearson

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jan 6

New Classes! Jan. 24th, Feb. 21st, & March 21st. Register for all three this week and get a deep discount! Also offering a FREE bonus revision workshop from @litmatchcollective.com experts Steve Chang & Autumn Watts! 💙 www.artofflashfiction.com/threein90?ut...

About the Series
“Originality of Language, Form, and Content: A 3 in 90 Workshop Series” is a three-part series of 90-minute workshops offering a concentrated immersion into originality across craft, encouraging writers to take risks, experiment boldly, and generate new work. While each session can be taken independently, the series as a whole provides a layered, cumulative experience that deepens the overall freshness and verve of your writing.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Jan 1

Heads up: I'll be announcing a new round of my popular 3-in-90 workshops on MONDAY (Jan, 5th). Will share all the info, along with a link to register. I'll be offering a VERY nice Early Bird Special that will include a discount and a surprise bonus workshop! Thanks! 💙

Photo of me, seated and smiling with my back to a window with sunshine streaming in. Long silver hair and ridiculously large glasses.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Dec 3

So fascinating, going through very old stories to choose "selected" works for a new book. I'm actually having to type many of the stories into new documents and am editing/revising as I go. I'm surprised how much I like the very old pieces I'd passed over for my 2018 collection!

Five books by Kathy Fish: Wild Life, Rift (with Robert Vaughan), A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness (containing her chapbook with three other writers'), Together We Can Bury It, and Wild Life: Collected works from 2003-2018.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Nov 24

Good morning, friends! I'll shortly be speaking on Zoom with students at SUNY Adirondack as part of their Writers Project series. I'm excited to talk about flash fiction and have them write to a fun prompt I've created. Visiting classrooms in person or remotely is so damn much fun. ❤

Me, seated and smiling in my study wearing glasses and a blue and white striped shirt with photos and books and a plant in the background. Sun steaming through the window behind me.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Nov 22

I have slowly but surely lost 32 pounds since March (without any Ozempic or Ozempic like injections, just exercise and managing blood sugar). All my "numbers" have vastly improved. I feel wonderful. Now I'm having to replace all my clothes. I won't lie, this is an awfully nice problem to have! 💙

Sunny outdoor selfie of me: a sixty-five year old woman with long gray hair and glasses, wearing a white sun visor, sleeveless tee, and blue weighted vest. Sidewalk, grass, and road behind me.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Nov 12

Pretty and unusual for Colorado!

Pink and purple Northern Lights low in the sky over pine trees in the foreground.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Nov 11

Hey friends, if one were to--say--pull together a collection of "new and selected" stories, who does the selecting of the "selecteds"? The writer or an editor / publisher or a trusted reader? Asking for myself. 😄 (This is a photo of the last time I pulled together a collection, too long ago.)

A long dining table covered in printed out story pages.

Kathy Fish@kathyfish· Oct 1

Hey, a spot just became open for this! Join us outside beautiful Harper’s Ferry, WV later this month for a wonderful few days of writing, rest, walking, reading, and more writing! A one on one consultation with me is also included in deal.