Articles

To read Robert Shapard’s Foreword in Amazon click the “Read Sample” button. Ruchi and I met often in Austin in the fall of ’24, when she came from Delhi to research the Flash Fiction archive at Ransom Center https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/ , on her journey of writing the very first book of flash fiction theory. Her introduction and first chapter are also in the “Read Sample.” — Robert Shapard

“The introduction of the original Flash Fiction book, published in 1992, asks the postmodern question of ‘how short can a short story be and still be a short story?’ Ruchi Nagpal comes as close to a definitive answer as theory can provide. The generic brevity of flash fiction is well suited to our contemporary age, and this annotated analysis explains its rise to critical respectability on top of its popular appeal.” —James Thomas, Co-editor of the W.W. Norton Flash Fiction anthology series

“With clarity, intelligence, and genuine passion for the genre, Ruchi Nagpal traces the evolution and significance of flash fiction in contemporary literature. A valuable and timely book for scholars, writers, and readers alike.” — Ana Maria Shua, author of Microfictions. (Aka Latin America’s Queen of the Microstory)

BEST SMALL FICTIONS 2025 GUEST EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION ROBERT SHAPARD

An Interview with Robert Shapard

Voice as the Sunlight of the Story: A Conversation with Robert Shapard

Review: The Art of Brevity in Robert Shapard’s “Bare Ana” by Laura Hawbaker

“This is the Meaning of my Life”: On Bare Ana and Other Stories by Robert Shapard

Lovely Riffs: An Interview with Robert Shapard by Curtis Smith

“Book Review: Bare Ana and Other Stories” by Beret Olsen https://100wordstory.org/book-review-bare-ana-and-other-stories/

CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS Unbuttoning Fish: An Interview with Robert Shapard about “Bare Ana and Other Stories”

No More Needs to be Said: An Interview with Robert Shapard

REVIEW IN VESTAL REVIEW by Ruchi Nagpal: https://www.vestalreview.net/review-of-bare-ana-and-other-stories

INTERVIEW ON BARE ANA AND FLASH AROUND THE WORLD https://flashfrontier.com/new-book-michelle-elvy-talks-with-robert-shapard/

Article by Robert Shapard “The Remarkable Reinvention of Very Short Fiction” from World Literature Today PDF

Interview with Robert Shapard in Smokelong Quarterly on the making of Flash Fiction International

Interview in PEN America with Robert Shapard and Christopher Merrill, Director of the University of Iowa International Writing Program

Article in Smokelong Quarterly on Robert Shapard as an editor

Interview by Cooper Renner in Word Riot (2002-2016) “A Conversation with Robert Shapard” PDF

Interview by Tim Denevi of “Mr. Sudden Fiction: Robert Shapard”

Article by Christopher Allen, editor of Smokelong Quarterly, on “America’s First Curated Collection of Flash Fiction Artifacts” 

Article by Megan Bernard of the Harry Ransom Center, “Collection Established at the Ransom Center”

A Hobart Symposium: On Writing Flash Fiction Robert Shapard questions U.S. authors Meg Pokrass, Bruce Holland Rogers, Jensen Beach, & Tara Laskowski, Mexico’s Alberto Chimal, Israel’s Etgar Kere, India’s Kuzhali Manickavel, Australia’s Josephine Rowe, Brazil’s Avital Gad-Cykman, and New Zealand’s Frankie McMillan https://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/a-hobart-symposium

Interview in Flash Frontier on the Ransom Center Flash Fiction Library with founding collectors Robert Shapard, Tara Lynn Masih, Robert Scotellaro, Pamela Painter and Tom Hazuka

Review in the Colorado Review by Heather Sharfeddin of Flash Fiction International

Foreword to New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction PDF

Interview, “What Is Flash Fiction?” with Robert Shapard and James Thomas in Flash Fiction.Net

Introduction to the original Sudden Fiction PDF