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BART announces finalists for BART Lines, the District’s first short story contest

Video Announcement

At BART, we had an inkling our riders might also be writers. That notion proved sparklingly true when BART Lines, our first-ever short story contest, launched over the summer.

More than 340 Bay Area writers submitted very short stories of 7,500 characters or less, centered around the theme of "motion."Their submissions told heroic tales of dashing knights and swimming women, saw BART trains swallowed by tentacled monsters, and even transported us from the 19th century to the present day. In all, the stories were enlightening – and highly entertaining.

Today, we announce the 30 BART Lines finalists, each of whom will receive a $200 honorarium. Their stories are now live in our Short Edition Short Story Dispensers, currently located at Fruitvale, Downtown Berkeley, Balboa Park, and Pleasant Hill stations. You can also read them online here. 

A special thanks to our jurors, noted local luminary authors Annalee Newitz, Ishmael Reed, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, JK Fowler, and Daniel Handler.

“Short stories are a dying art because publishers can’t make any money at them,” Reed said in a video congratulating the finalists. “So, BART is to be congratulated for sustaining a dying art form.”

Newitz called the entries “amazing,” noting that some of their best story ideas have arisen riding BART.

“I’m just excited that BART is taking an interest in the thoughts we have in our minds while riding the train,” Newitz said.

Join us for a reading of select finalist stories on Oct. 7 at Glen Park Station, from 5 pm to 6:30 pm. The finalist readings will be interspersed with free live music as part of BART’s Sound Tracks series.

And now, in no particular order, our BART Lines finalists:

1. Always Be Prepared, Ophelia Leong
2. Drop Off, Joshua Riggs
3. Escaping the Butterfly Effect, Lucy Zhang
4. Rooted, Allison Rassmann
5. The Bell Brothers, Drew Kiser
6. Frank's House, Kobi Naseck
7. Counting on the Waves, Tighe Flately
8. Knox, Jason Schwartzman
9. Loida Goes to Get Her Cat, Edward Giordano
10. Swimmingly: A Lap Pool Fantasy, Rachel Hope Crossman
11. Change of Pace, Emma Li
12. Two More, Ben Briggs    
13. Swim, Swam, Swan, Karen Fayeth
14. The Delivery, Kevin Troxell
15. Long Way Home, Sarena Kuhn
16. Wrong Track, Kristen Fantozzi
17. The Black Bags, Brendan Yungert
18. Bills, Astrid Casimire
19. The Locomotive, Chris Pais
20. Meeting People, Lisa Martin
21. Interior Life, Teresa Pham-Carsillo
22. Locomotion, Gina Willner-Pardo
23. Acts of Preservation, Rachel Blythe
24. Lucille, Lia Smith
25. A Dry Path, FT Kola
26. Birds, Circling, Everywhere, Matthew Hose
27. More, Doug Henderson
28. Radiant Crown, Katherine Briccetti
29. Maya Moving On, Kathryn Kahn
30. Durians, and the Monster We Face, Henry Tran

Congratulations to our finalists. Stay tuned for future writing contests from BART – including a contest for local youth writers in the next year. Thanks for writing with us.