Flash Fiction in Saudi Arabia

Flash Fiction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a genre of literature and a form of short story ranging between thirty and fifty words. This genre emerged in the Kingdom in the 1970s in the columns of local newspapers as an experimental shift toward a new narrative style after over three decades of traditional writing. Then, it was published in independent collections of very short stories.

Flash fiction features began to emerge distinctly through the work of storyteller Jubair al-Mulayhan, one of this literary genre's earliest writers and pioneers. He published eleven short stories titled "al-Tifl Yureedoh: al-Lawn al-Abyad" (The Child Wants It: The White Color) in the cultural newsletter supplement of al-Yaum Newspaper on April 10, 1976.

In 1977, storyteller Mohammad Alwan published the collection"al-Khubz wal-Samt" (Bread and Silence), featuring four flash fiction stories.

Flash fiction started to form through individual and collective experiments in early 1980. They were primarily published in Saudi newspaper columns and supplements without being compiled into books and remained preserved within the newspapers' pages.

In 1992, the first printed collection dedicated to flash fiction was released when Abdullah al-Sakaabi published his collection “Farghat” (Vacancies), which included several very short stories such as "Maw'id" (Date), "Bara'ah" (Innocence), "Sabah" (Morning), and "I'tab" (Reproach).

Hassan al-Batran is considered the first writer to specialize in the flash fiction genre in the Kingdom. He has published six collections and is the first Saudi author to release a collection in both Arabic and English. He is also among the early adopters of modern narrative techniques in flash fiction writing in the Kingdom.

He was followed by the writer Shimah al-Shemri, who has published four collections, then Jubair al-Mulayhan, Mufarrej al-Majfel, Mohammed al-Muzaini, Mariam al-Hassan, Hakimah al-Harbi, Taher az-Zarae, and Ali al-Drourah, each of whom has authored two collections in flash fiction.

Since 2007, the number of flash fiction writers in the Kingdom has grown. Their work often appears within story collections or a dedicated collection. Among these authors are Mohammed al-Shaqha, who has five collections; Fahd al-Musbbah, who has four collections; Ahmed al-Qadi, who has four collections; Jamaan al-Kart, who has four collections; Fahd al-Ateeq, who has three collections; and Khalid al-Yousef, who has three collections.