In this 8-week short story workshop held at ASF Headquarters in East Austin, participants will join an intimate group (capped at 12) in a craft-inspired class led by Fernando A. Flores, author of the two brilliant collections Valleyesque and Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas.
In addition to formal workshop discussions focusing on each participant’s work, Flores will begin every class session with a mini-lecture and generative exercise based on very short pieces by writers like Roberto Bolaño, Kathleen Collins, Hebe Uhart, and others, inspiring students to explore techniques and styles from various authors. Participants will also have one-on-one meetings with the instructor post critique.
At the final session, participants will celebrate with a special wine-and-cheese reception featuring American Short Fiction coeditors Rebecca Markovits and Adeena Reitberger in conversation about the editorial process.
The class will meet from 7:00 pm to 9:15 p.m. every Monday from October 3, 2022 to November 21, 2022.
Applications are open now through September 22nd. Please submit a writing sample of 5 – 10 pages, double-spaced, as a PDF or .doc to workshop@americanshortfiction.org with “Fall Short Story Workshop” in the subject line. If you’d also like to include a brief personal statement including your experience as a writer and what you hope to gain from this workshop, that will be helpful as we assess the applications.
The cost to participate in this workshop is $750. The full tuition fee will be due by October 1, 2022, to secure a spot.
We follow all CDC guidelines for in-person events but reserve the right to shift plans in order to keep our staff, instructors, and attendees safe. Participants will be required to show proof of vaccination prior to the start of the workshop.
Fernando A. Flores was born in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and grew up in South Texas. He is the author of the collection Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas and the novel Tears of the Trufflepig, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and named a best book of 2019 by Tor.com. His fiction has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly, American Short Fiction, VICE, Ploughshares, Frieze, and elsewhere. His new collection of stories, Valleyesque, was released in May 2022. He lives in Austin, Texas.