By Gary Finnegan First there was a couple who became a family of five before shrinking back to the original pair. They arrived in the 1950s and I was their favourite. We were all younger then, with…

The middle distance absorbed her gaze. Her sleeves, her nerves, frayed. Moths had chewed holes in the coats of the children; the children had eaten nothing for days. Days had been given to a journe…

Winner of the Frazzled Lit Short Story Award 2025

Life as a 'late emerging' writer

Auntie June milks my tea, hands it over, says “Mind now, Liam, that’s hot”.

London Independent Story Prize 3rd Round 2024 Finalist, 'The Soloist', Gary Finnegan - Can you please tell us about you and your daily life? I’m a journalist and editor, mostly working on health and m...

London Independent Story Prize 3rd Round 2024 Winners and Finalists!The quantity of high-quality writing has never been greater!While congratulating our selected writers, we recognise the subjectivity...

How long had we been staring at her tiny body? Twenty seconds? Twenty minutes? She was doing her magic trick: breathing in through her chestnut nose, swelling and deflating. We were leaning over the cot, inhaling her second-hand air; it did us no good, but we didn’t care.  Brought us closer together.  Us. You and me and her.  She was our queen to be protected. She was an enemy, bent on our destruction. I made a ‘T’ sign with my index fingers. You smiled, and we tip-toed to the kitchen, weary and

My swimming mind sees, for a beat, a human hair fibre on a cracked slide, backlit on a microscope stage. Flashes of a school science lab.   I blink, think, focus.    No, these are branches of peeli...

Competition Nineteen Shortlist   A Werewolf in Soho by Maria Thomas Biology lessons by Gary Finnegan Cubism by Leonard Kress Dancing At The Galway Oyster Festival by Karen Arnold Over Her Heart, A Ta...

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Announcement of Prizewinners for Adult Flash Fiction and Poetry Competitions Allingham Festival 2023