Publication – F C MALBY

National Flash Fiction Day 2026 Anthology Line Up

I’m thrilled to share the news that my recent story, Lotus, has been selected for publication in the National Flash Fiction Day 2026 Anthology. Here is what the editors had to say:

After reading scads of brilliant stories on the theme of BRIDGES, editors Karen Jones and Sharon Telfer have finalised their selections for the 2026 National Flash Fiction Day anthology and for the third annual Editors’ Choice Awards.

Below is the list of the stories that will appear in this year’s anthology. Thank you so much to everybody who submitted their stories for consideration for this year’s anthology. It was an honour to read each and every piece. We appreciate the chance to read your work! We hope that you will all join us for the launch of the anthology on National Flash Fiction Day later this year.

2026 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology Line Up

‘A Brief History of Trolls’ by Anne Howkins
‘A Frog Funeral’ by Finnian Burnett
‘As Easy as Falling Off a Log’ by Paula Durance
‘Bridge Over Troubled Water (Show Choir 6TH Grade)’ by Jessica Edmond
‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Mileva Anastasiadou
‘Bridge That Gap with a Cadbury’s Snack’ by Alison Wassell
‘Cantilever’ by James Roderick Burns
‘Come On’ by Patricia Q. Bidar
‘Dice’ by C. L. Spillard
‘Doggerland (or, 10,000 years ago there were no migrant boats crossing the English Channel)’ by Erin Bondo
‘Don’t Look Down’ by Hilary Ayshford
‘Falling from the Mid-Point’ by Keith Rutter
‘Forty-nine Hedgehogs and the Hump-bottom Bridge’ by Rosaleen Lynch
‘Gentle Yoga Guide to Dealing with Materializing’ by Andy Lavender
‘He and She’ by Shelley Roche-Jacques
‘How to Fill the Space’ by Debra A. Daniel
‘Hue and Cry’ by Sarah Masters
‘If You Leave From the Southwest Gate and Follow the Cliffs for Half a Day, You Will Reach the Chasm, and the Bridge and the Heap’ by Jenna Muiderman
‘In Hebden Bridge at Midnight’ by Lucienne Cummings
‘Jack the Zoo’ by Jaime Gill
‘Learning to Talk Like the Bridge Ladies’ by Lola Page
‘Le Nez’ by Jill Munro
‘Lotus’ by F. C. Malby
‘Maybe Sarajevo’ by Cassandra Parkin
‘Meet Me Halfway’ by Rob Walton
‘Mile Marker 1.5’ by Steven Patchett
‘Mothman Caused the Silver Bridge Collapse’ by Sonora Hills
‘Mudlarking Under Richmond Bridge During the Annual Draw Off’ by Rachael Dunlop
‘Nepenthes’ by Jules Foshee
‘No Jerusalem for Alf Bridges’ by Andy Larter
‘Northolt Park’ by Sally Jane Tate
‘Nose’ by Rebecca Klassen
‘On Southend Pier, Sergeant Cranley Doesn’t Cut the Mustard’ by Gill O’Halloran
‘Placenta’ by Karen Arnold
‘Reasons to Be with You Parts One to Five’ by Emily MacDonald
‘Salad Days’ by Melanie Maggard
‘Seven Bridges Road’ by Sara Hills
‘Sister Benedict’ by Fiona Vigo Marshall
‘The Calm After the Storm’ by Jo Rigg
‘The Keep’ by Beth Sherman
‘The Passing Place’ by Bryony Burton
‘The Valley’ by Isabel McKeough
‘The World Doesn’t Like People It Can’t Mold’ by Christina Tudor
‘This Life’s Span’ by Audrey Niven
‘Vivaldi in B, Please Hold’ by Nivara Lune
‘Watermarked’ by Rosaleen Lynch
‘What It Holds’ by M.M. Bailey
‘What Single People Do on Sundays’ by Cath Holland
‘When Will the Bridge Break?’ by May Suri
‘Why I Sometimes Wish I was a Troll Under a Bridge’ by Rebecca Field
‘Woman by the Spree, April 1945’ by Emma Venables

Author Ingrid Jendrzejewski Published on 16 March 2026 Leave a comment on National Flash Fiction Day 2026 Anthology Line Up

Wild Seas, Wilder Cities raises £5,500 for Solent Seagrass Restoration Project

EXCITING NEWS!

My short fiction piece, ‘Prolific,’ was published in the Pens of the Earth Anthology, Wild Seas, Wilder Cities, alongside some wonderful authors in 2025. Since then, a whopping £5,500 has been raised for the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project. The money raised comes both from book sales and related activities. Find out more about the collection.

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

Wild Seas, Wilder Cities is a “wild-seeded” collection of short stories, poems, memoirs, environmental articles and illustrations from 54 unique contributors, all concerned with showing the positive side of our relationship with the earth.

Wild Seas, Wilder Cities is a “wild-seeded” collection of short stories, poems, memoirs, environmental articles and illustrations from 54 unique contributors, all concerned with showing the positive side of our relationship with the earth.

Dive into the depths of Wild Seas, Wilder Cities and let your imagination be fired by the many wonderful projects already making a difference to our world, by stories of hope, celebrations of nature, inspirational people (both real and fictional) and by the local action that every one of us can undertake. A few small differences in your life will ensure you are part of the ever-growing global community dedicated to protecting our precious planet. Let us inspire you!

RESTORATION PROJECT

“The many writers and poets represented in this book have all given their work freely to support the vital work of the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust in its repair and maintenance of the Solent seagrass meadows.” Pens of the Earth

The Restoration Project is working towards a vision of a wilder future and 30% of land and sea restored for nature. Seagrasses do as much to keep the planet cool as rainforests, so raise your spirits and help us plant the seeds of change.

All profits from this book are donated to the Solent Seagrass Restoration Project.

REVIEWS

‘Bursting with inspiring and hopeful visions’ Carys Bray, author of A Song for Issy Bradley

‘A lyrical force for change’ Nicola Chester, writer for The Guardian

‘Full of love, enlightenment, practicality and poetry’ Toby Litt, author of Patience

‘This collection, evolved from the inspirational Pens of the Earth, shows how meaningful, themed narratives can make a shift towards change’ The London Magazine Review, by Judy Waite, Award-winning author and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of Winchester.

‘We bear witness to the natural world in many ways, and the pieces come in all shapes and sizes, carrying messages of determination, love for nature, positive actions and the power of community.’ Sarah Jane Butler, author of Starling

‘A delightfully encouraging collection of writings on the ways we can help make the world wilder again, how we can change the narrative on climate change. Vibrant and alive, these are wonderful tales told of renaturing – of striving to support life in all its glorious forms on the earth, of restoring hope for the future.’ Dr James Canton, Director of Wild Writing, University of Essex

Pens of the Earth have a number of activities coming up this year, including online and in-person workshops (check out Tamsin’s Mar 2nd Portsmouth BookFest workshop), the launch of an audiobook, and further book sales, to continue to raise money.

In the meantime, listen to Pens of the Earth in conversation on Radio Victory‘s Between the Lines, this Sunday, at 6pm. Rachel Birchley will be chatting with Loree and Matt about environmental writing, Tamsin’s forthcoming BookFest workshop and what it takes to put a good anthology together. It will also be available on catch up: https://radiovictory.co.uk/betweenthelines.

Poems Published in Cable Street Press: Issue 9

Four of my poems have been published in the marvellous Summer Edition of Cable Street Press, Issue 9.

A word from the editor on Issue 9:

**Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, Sage Flowers, Marigolds.**

Bastille Day has come and with it, the explosion of writing and art that is the latest Cable Street Issue. I’ll be frank with you—every issue blows my mind. I see all the pieces one by one and they are surprising, delightful, shocking, thought provoking. But then they all come together, and each and every time, I’m moved by the web of art in conversation that is created...And these are only some of the many treasures of this issue. Storm into this tower at your own speed, making sure to check out the poetry of F.C. Malby and Roberta Schultz…There is plenty to enjoy on this Bastille Day weekend.

— Hardy Griffin for the editors

Poems by F C Malby

My poems, Crossing, I Have Already Gone, Moths, and Where Have All the Birds Gone feature a range of themes, including the contentious issue of immigration. Through Crossing, I wanted to give a voice to the voiceless; this is a particularly exigent issue.

Crossing

I line up with other bedraggled bodies,
some look as though they might be dying,

others carry the weight of grief. I watched
a child slip away while we waited yesterday,

saw the life leave its lungs, the mother clung
to its body, tears wet the child’s face. It’s not

pretty, it’s worse than they tell you. I don’t
know whether we will make it or whether

we might be taken back. I don’t speak
the language, few of us do. It matters.

The look on the guard’s faces is difficult
to read, tells me they’ve seen so much

of this. None of us know what to do or
what’s next. Clothes dry on a makeshift

line between tents, next to plastic bags
of what we have left after the police take

anything else. Some of us camp under
bridges, avoiding the boulders that stop

us settling on softer ground. We wait for
the next boat, for a better life. The

mother is still holding the child. We
wait. Some of us won’t make it.

Read my other three poems here.

Exciting News: Four Poems to be published in Cable Street Literary Journal

I’m thrilled to have an acceptance of four poems to be published in International Literary Journal, Cable Street, in July. They only publish work three times a year, so I’m happy that my poems have found their way into this wonderful journal. I don’t know about you, but I love a backstory, so I thought I’d share a little about the publishers ahead of the publication.

CABLE STREET

“We are, first and foremost, an international, online journal fostering exchange among writers and readers of many languages. We post new issues three times a year: on or about May 1, Bastille Day, and Thanksgiving.

Our name reflects the essence of our journal: a festival of communication across nations and traditions, a chance to wander the byways of art from many hands and many lands.

Cable Street is a road in London’s East End. It takes its name from the ships’ cables once made there—cables that traveled the world on British fleets. A place enlivened, then and now, by the dozens of languages spoken by sailors, traders, and immigrants. A place where, in 1936, a coalition of antifascists took a stand against the British Union of Fascists, turning back the tide of repression and ethnocentric dominion.

Like our namesake thoroughfare, Cable Street embraces the human family in its multitude of cultures.“

Photo credit: Cable Street Journal, Cable Street, London

More news in July!

Poetry Publication

My poem, She Laughs with the Breeze, has been published today at Fifty Word Stories:

She laughs with the breeze
as it sweeps through the town,
men — liquor-fueled and free
with their words — lean on the
bar as the music plays…

You can read the rest of the poem over at Fifty Words. Leave a comment and let me know if this inspires you.