BART Lines: BART launches its first-ever short story contest for Bay Area writers

UPDATE 7/1/22

The contest is now closed for submissions. More to come soon.

UPDATE 06/01/22

BART's first short story contest is officially open for submissions!

The BART Lines submission page is now live. To reach the submission page, visit Short Édition's website on BART Lines. Only the first 400 submissions will be read, so get your work in early. Submissions close on June 30 at 11:59 pm PST.

Published Date: 05/16/22

In celebration of BART’s 50th anniversary this September, BART is proud to announce our first-ever short fiction contest: BART Lines.

With BART Lines, BART will shine a light on the literary voices that make the Bay Area unique, diverse, and creative. Our riders keep BART moving, and we want to highlight the best writing that the region has to offer and showcase it in our stations.

Starting June 1, we are seeking (very) short stories of 7,500 characters or less that revolve around the theme of “Motion.”

What does “motion” mean to you? How does it change you? Impact narrative? Transform? Whether it’s a BART ride that made a lasting impact or an (e)motion(al) tale of struggle and triumph, we want to read your interpretation of “motion” across themes, genres, and settings.

Finalists will be selected by our panel of Bay Area literary icons, including Daniel Handler, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Ishmael Reed, JK Fowler, and Annalee Newitz.

Authors ages 18 and up who reside in one of the five counties where BART operates (San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara) are invited to submit their stories.

Thirty finalists will be selected, and each will receive a $200 honorarium. The finalists’ stories will be available to read on the Short Édition website, as well as in BART’s four Short Édition Short Story Dispensers, currently located at Balboa Park, Richmond, Pleasant Hill, and Fruitvale stations.

Contest submissions open June 1 at 12:00 am PST and close on or before June 30 at 11:59 pm PST. The submissions page will close after 400 submissions, so get your work in early. Selected finalists will also be invited to participate in a reading at a BART station with Litquake in October.

Youth writer ages 18 and under: We are exploring hosting a writing contest just for you next year.

Happy writing, riders.

Questions? Email at [email protected].

Thank you to our partners: The San Francisco Public Library, the San Francisco Writers Grotto, the San Francisco Writers Conference, Litquake, and the Bay Area Writing Project.