Katharine Brush — or at least the portrait of her — was staring down at a gathering on the second floor of the library named in her honor. 

Listening to the conversation, maybe? 

The group had assembled on Thursday morning, April 10, to celebrate the entrants in this year’s Katharine Brush Flash Fiction Contest. 

Katharine Brush was a talented and widely read author whose first novel was written in the 1920s. By the end of her career, she had written for newspapers and magazines, authored many novels and short stories, and produced scripts for film and the early days of television. 

“She pushed the boundaries of fiction and nonfiction writing,” school archivist Karen Parsons told the gathered students. “She was a person of her times. I think this portrait captures that spirit — her personality. She was a world traveler. We’ve joked that she was a serial eavesdropper. This year’s prompt is based on that. She would go out to public places and listen to people, take notes on what she was hearing. Her characters developed out of strangers she encountered in New York City and around the world. She was always curious and always observing.” 

This year’s prompt, chosen by Karen, Writing Initiatives Director John Morrell, and English teacher Zach Grobe, was about using a public place as a launching point for the flash fiction story. Twenty-three students wrote stories, which will be judged by published authors Brendan Flaherty ’02, Tory Henwood Hoen ’02, and Nicole Seymour. Professor Seymour, an environmental humanities scholar, spoke at Loomis Chaffee last year. The winners will be announced in May. 

 “We encourage you to think about community, place, and the ways in which you can find inspiration all around you by being among and with others,” stated the instructions for this year’s contest, which is in its eighth year. 

Students at the gathering were asked in which public places their stories originated. One could almost imagine Katharine Brush putting her hand to her ear. Listening in. And smiling. 

“Restaurant in Boston,” said one. “Grand Central Station,” said another. And on and on the list went: a balcony, a basement, a library, a gym, a shopping center, a public square, a museum, a cafe, a hospital emergency room. 

This year’s Katharine Brush Flash Fiction authors: 

Senior Victoria Amador 

Sophomore Ria An 

Sophomore Lilly Autry 

Junior Frieda Bilezikian 

Junior Annabelle Chan  

Sophomore Vivaan Chaturvedi  

Freshman Sia Dhingra 

Sophomore Audrey Flynn 

Junior Nina Gitlitz 

Junior Maia Gorgan 

Junior Will Hall  

Senior Sydney Hallowell 

Junior Ashley Jun 

Freshman Doyle Kim 

Junior Aanum Khan 

Freshman Olivia Koo 

Freshman Chloe Lee 

Junior Deron Lin 

Senior Laura Phyu 

Freshman Katy Su 

Freshman Cylina Wang 

Freshman Amy Xue 

Sophomore Angela Zhou