Greetings Fictional Café Readers, Writers, Artists and Members! It is our pleasure to announce the First annual Fictional Café Writing Contest. In celebration of our fourth year of bringing you the best fiction we can offer, we’re expanding our programs to include a print/ebook publication curated by you, our members. Here’s how it works. Part One: Submission Beginning at the end of this week, submissions open. You enter your best piece of fiction via our one-of-a-kind submission form (link will be visible in our official Opening post this coming Friday). Submissions should be between 2,000 and 8,000 words and fit in one of the following categories: Literary Humorous Poetry (word count requirement suspended) Speculative Mystery/Thriller/Crime Western/Historical Flash (word count <1,000 words) Art (photos, drawings, and paintings, no word count requirement) You can submit as many times…

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June is a month linked to freedom. Whether it’s the arrival of the day that school’s out for summer, the warm days perfect for sprawling out on the grass with a good book or the beginning of road trip season, June signals the end of the ties that winter and school have over us (at least in the northern hemisphere!). Our European Pen Pals can attest to the pleasure of being done (and home) for the summer too. This month’s submissions reflect such freedom as we deviate slightly from our typical offerings. We have two novel excerpts for you, each very different yet both quite engaging and two installments each of poetry and art. Bon appétit! Fiction Our first excerpt is from Legends of the Treasure by Mike Squatrito, the first book in his fantasy…

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Editor’s note: This is the last exchange between Simran and Rachael as they end their Study Abroad semesters. You can find their previous pen pal exchanges here, here and here. The Sacre Coeur Basilica image above is courtesy Simran. The Basilica di San Domenico image is courtesy Rachael. Photo montage courtesy Grace Chu. But wait! There’s one last installment to follow, when they write each other about what it’s like to be back home. Coming soon. ** April 17 Hi Sim! Oh good luck with your papers and everything. I hope you enjoy the last few weeks! My program ends in the middle of May, so I’m not quite at that stage of thinking about the end yet. I love this question about being alone, actually because it’s definitely been a significant and changing part of my time…

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Although I’m sure they would secretly prefer the Fictional Cafe for a cup of java and creativity, Rachael and Simran have found local coffee hangouts in Paris and Bologna—and have found them interestingly different in several respects from their American counterparts. Here’s part three of their pen-palling. ** April 10 Hi Sim! Sorry for the delay—I was gone this weekend on a program trip to Venice. (If you end up visiting Italy, definitely see Venice! There are many tourists, of course, but there are also these beautiful hidden canals, one of which has this old bookstore overflowing with books—and sometimes with water.) I have similar feelings about the energy of the students in Bologna. And I too, especially since this is a university town, thought that café culture would be a big part of the city….

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