FLASHES

Bath Flash Fiction’s Novella in Flash Award is for novellas, 6,000-18,000 words comprised of flash fictions each no longer than 1,000 words. First prize is £300 with two £100 runners-up. All three winning novellas will be published. The entry fee is £16 and the closing date is 17 January. Website: https://bathflashfictionaward.com/

A first edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection has sold at auction for £38,400. The groundbreaking 1859 work sold to an American bidder at Mellors & Kirk auction house in Nottingham. It had been estimated to fetch £5,000-£7,000.

YA author Holly Bourne has launched a campaign to support bookshops during lockdown, with more than 300 writers signing up so far. #SignFor OurBookshops offers exclusive signed bookplates designed by former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell, to high street stores and customers. Participating authors include Malorie Blackman, Matt Haig,