Flash Fiction enthusiast and Leeds Big Bookend team member, Vicky Pointing, talks to us about her most recent project with Tiny Owl, ‘Krampus Crackers’. Read on to find out what she’s up to, and how you can get involved too!
– So how did you get involved with Tiny Owl Workshop?
I first heard of Tiny Owl Workshop through the wonderful Kate McDonald, whom I met at the 2013 Leeds Big Bookend festival.
Photo by Kate McDonald of McBookishness
At the time, Kate was working on the Halloween Napkin Project with Tiny Owl. That project involved flash fiction submissions on a Halloween theme, with the chosen stories being printed onto napkins and distributed in cafes throughout Leeds, Brisbane and Toronto. I submitted a story and was lucky enough to be one of 11 Leeds-based writers whose work was published. The finished product looked amazing (see left) and it was really exciting to see my work in print, in such an original format.
I’ve followed Tiny Owl on twitter (@TinyOwlWorkshop) ever since, and kept a close eye on what they’ve been up to. When I heard about Krampus Crackers, I thought it was a fantastic idea – as all their ideas tend to be! – and got in touch with Tiny Owl to see if I could get involved.
– Who is Krampus then?
Krampus is a cloven hoofed, horned beast who could be described as the anti-St Nicholas. Where St Nick rewards good children, Krampus punishes the bad, and carries rods of birch for just that purpose. All in all, he’s pretty terrifying, and the perfect inspiration for Christmas themed flash fictions which look at the darker side of the festive season.
Thanks to Bobbi Charleston (@bobbicharleston) & Steve Toase (@stevetoase) for the link to this image. More can be seen here: http://bobbicharleston.tumblr.com/post/37287735704/trick-or-treating-pah-in-alpine-countries-young
You can find out more about Krampus here.
– Tell me about Krampus Crackers.
Kahli Scott is editing and curating the project in Australia, and Tiny Owl have kindly let me do the same for UK submissions. The idea is that 12 flash fictions will be selected in Australia and 12 in the UK, to be printed onto cracker innards, accompanied by six illustrations by artists including Terry Whidborne and Simon Cottee. The innards will be placed inside sets of beautiful crackers, designed by Tiny Owl Workshop, that will be distributed throughout Brisbane and Leeds.
– That sounds great! Can anyone submit?
Yes, anyone who lives in the UK or Australia can submit their flash fiction directly to Tiny Owl. Full details and guidelines are on my blog, (click here) but we’re looking for stories of between 300 and 500 words, and the deadline is 5th September 2014.
Steve Toase and I will be reading all the submissions and we can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!
If you’d like to know more about this project, go to Vicky’s blog, or follow her on Twitter: @vickykpointing.
