Note: Nongenre anthology with some speculative fiction contents. Short.Sharp.Stories, now in its sixth year, is an award that seeks out excellence in South African writing run by the National Arts Festival. This compilation is of the best stories of the 2018 competition from a rich variety of writers. Every photograph tells a story. We live in an age in which every one of us has, by default, become a photographer as billions of images are uploaded online at any given moment. We invited writers to find a provocative photograph which inspires a powerful story. A spontaneously captured selfie, a bold news pic, a childhood snap in an old album; perhaps a framed tribute that brings back memories of joy, or a hidden print that haunts their past. We looked for stories with strong narrative drive, and characters and settings that reflect our South African experience and diversity, and this collection is an outstanding set of stories that will move, inspire, and provoke you. As Efemia Chela writes in the foreword: "The creative power of South African writing cannot be underestimated. The texture of our everyday experiences is demonstrated in the broad variety of voices gathered together here. Like a photograph, each story gestures to a world of seen and unseen things. These stories embrace the unexpected, the thought provoking, the mysterious, and all the other things that accrue to writing South African stories. We hope you will find something of your own story in the stories that make up Instant Exposure." Featured writers: Efemia Chela, Michael Yee, Stephen Buabeng-Baidoo, Shubnum Khan, Vamumusa Malusi Khumalo, Tiah Beautement, Femi Agunbiade, Martin Botha, Paul Collings, Bernard du Plessis, Chantelle Gray, Lynn Joffe, Donve Lee, Rochelle Mungaroo, Sam Murray, Ambre Nicolson, Thandekhile Ntshangase, Arja Salafranca, Melissa Siebert, Ian Sutherland