Northland Writers In Flash Fiction Finals
Northlanders have achieved highly in this year’s National Flash Fiction Day competition, which celebrates one of the shortest forms of creative writing.
13 year old Jana Heise, who was raised in Whangarei, won the NFFD Youth Award on June 22. Her story was then performed, with those of other Northland and national finalists, at a workshop and open mic event on June 24 in Kawakawa put on by Bay of Islands resident Kathy Derrick, who is a National Flash Fiction Day Committee city chair.
Former Whangarei writer Lola Elvy was in the youth top ten shortlist and Michael Botur was longlisted three times. Lola’s mother Michelle Elvy, who lived in Opua and Whangarei from 2008 to 2014, contributes much to flash fiction, as one of the editors of the Bonsai anthology, which will be published in August by Canterbury University Press. That collection includes at least six Northland flash fiction writers.
Flash fiction is a form of storytelling with a strict 300 word limit. National Flash Fiction Day is celebrated each year on the shortest day. This year’s competition attracted around 500 entries.
Northland has just three percent of the country’s population but achieves disproportionately well at flash fiction. Flash fiction took off nationwide after Ms Elvy and friends published the first edition of Flash Frontier magazine in 2012. Highest-placed Northland writer and top ten NFFD finalist Vivian Thonger of Kerikeri said when she arrived four years ago, the region was “a flash-fiction writing hotspot where people at all levels of experience could learn and hone their short-form writing skills.”
Thonger said flash fiction can be addictive. “It doesn’t take long to write a piece, yet it’s a delicate game trying to fit meaning and tension into 300 words or fewer. It’s a kick getting published, and it feels less painful when you’re rejected; you bounce back and try again quickly, or have several pieces on the go at once.”
“Many of us have a collection of vignettes, of unforgettable moments, stuck in our heads; flash is a way to bring those snippets to life as a feeling evoked, or a brief encounter leaping off the page, real or imagined, like a frisson of truth or recognition passing between you and the reader.”
Other organisers of the Kawakawa event included Whangarei author Martin Porter, a National Flash Fiction Competition Committee member. Kathy Derrick is also judging the Whangarei Libraries Flash Fiction competition 2018, which is having its prizegiving on June 27.
More at: writeupnorth.co.nz...
Vivian Thonger’s Bay of Islands Writers Group is looking for more members. Contact vthonger@gmail.com to join.
Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑
Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.
We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
Want to read more? The Press has you covered!
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53.8% Human-centred experience and communication
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14.1% Critical thinking
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29.4% Resilience and adaptability
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2.7% Other - I will share below!
Whangarei Film Society - screenings for Thursday February 26th, 2026
Good People
Welcome to 2026!
The film night for our first WFS screening for the year will be on Thursday 26th February in the Capitaine Bougainville Theatre at Forum North, 7 Rust Ave Whangarei.
Please note: There will be one screening only for the evening. It will follow the WFS AGM at 6pm.
We will be screening the NZ doco, Not Only Fred Dagg But Also John Clarke at 7:15pm.
Thanks to all for your continued support of WFS and hope to see you there.
NOT ONLY FRED DAGG BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE
New Zealand, 2025, Documentary, 103 mins
Cast: Sam Neill, Ben Elton, Bryan Dawe
Director: Lorin Clarke
When satirist John Clarke died in 2017, the world mourned an icon. He was a defining comedic voice who wrote and appeared in numerous films and TV productions, and who – in a beloved double act with Bryan Dawe – skewered political hypocrisy for almost 30 years on current affairs shows.
In a series of recorded conversations with his daughter, writer/director Lorin Clarke, John traces his steadfast resistance to authority back to his childhood and offers delightful insights into his four decades in the entertainment industry.
Weaving together personal anecdotes, a rich television archive, tales from international comedy greats and riches from Clarke’s work and letters, this is a deeply personal insight into a legend of the antipodean screen and a tribute to the disruptive power of creativity.
"In New Zealand, he was bigger than The Beatles." - Sam Neill
Showing at Forum North, 7 Rust Ave Whangarei on Thursday, 26th February at 7:15pm following the WFS AGM at 6pm.
View the trailer at: www.youtube.com...
Tickets: Door sales only. $10 WFS members. Non-members pay $5 extra as an Associate Membership fee per film (Total of $15).
WFS members from 2025 who register and attend the WFS AGM will be admitted to the film screening that night for free.
All welcome. Cash only please – NO EFTPOS AVAILABLE.
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