Short Stories
The "73 Words in the 732" contest seeks original short stories that contain seventy-three words or fewer. Stories can be on any theme or topic, and a panel of library staff will select the best short stories, which will appear on the library's website.
The contest is open through the month of May every year. Ages 18 and older are welcome to participate and East Brunswick residency is not required.
Starving Artist
Fear once told me that art was a dangerous road called Starving Artist Way. So, I studied spreadsheets and sent emails instead. Now a phantom haunts the rafters and she is ravenous, clawing...
Kelly Louro
Library Book Escape
A little girl named Susan lived in the countryside and her days were filled with burying her nose in library books. Books were her comfort, escape, and place to dream. With each turn of the page,...
Susan Mcclelan
First Encounter
Priti's scuba mask fogged with each labored breath as she finned deeper into the eerie depths off Sandy Hook. Her research team had detected bizarre bio-readings in this unexplored trench....
Nickie Shah
The Businessman & the Poet
A poet and a businessman were standing at the end of a long bread line. The businessman kept looking at his wristwatch and squinting toward the front of the line. The poet was observing everything...
Joseph Patrick Pascale
El diablo
Magenta is a gentle dog. Because she’s a fierce barker, Ilan nicknamed her El Diablo. On a recent walk, Magenta and Leah met him and Isabella and their dogs Ziti and...
Donna Lee Golderg
Inexperienced
The red and white sail catches the wind and the sunfish flies across Barnegat Bay. With my brother at the rudder, we’re two kids having fun, learning something new. Time to turn. Quick, duck. Come...
Carol Smith
Who Knew
Everyone thought she was an altruistic and extremely forgiving person.
She was described as patient and merciful.
She spoke little, but observed much.
She spent little and...
Veronica Sudia
Estrangement
Anne sat by a fountain, blending in with people enjoying a spring day. It was her grandson’s second birthday. The party would be nearby but she wasn’t invited. A few months earlier her daughter...
Elizabeth
Remembering Mom
You lived for 87 years and somehow it just was not enough. To write a 73 word ode about you is a difficult task. I will say, you were an avid reader and loved the library like a third child. You...
Deanna Perlmutter
Invisible Man
The Invisible Man was driving us home. Actually it was our father who sat in the passenger seat and gave him directions to our house.
My sister and I were mesmerized and a little scared as...
Allisa Perlmutter
Alphabet Soup
All her parents’ dreams - carefully lined up in alphabetical order – Achievement. Beauty. Confidence. Doctorate. Everything. Finalized. Get in everywhere. Hope with a capital H. Intelligent. Just...
Amanda Visokay
The Afghan
Fluorescent lights buzz overhead inside the dusty old thrift store - and in my hands, a homespun afghan drapes over my fingertips. There's a superstition within the crochet community that your...