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Phil Olsen — Writer of s(h)orts
Phil Olsen is a writer from Liverpool who enjoys finding the absurd in the everyday. Much of his short fiction attempts to hold up a carnival mirror to society. He has a master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing.
As a part-time creative writing tutor on the University of Liverpool’s Continuing Education programme, Phil teaches evening courses in ‘Flash Fiction: Short Shorts & Restrictive Briefs’, as well as sessions inspired by art and workshops that explore Oulipo and graphic novels.
In 2023, he ran a Canning Dock Flash Fiction Competition in collaboration with Writing on the Wall and National Museums Liverpool. Phil developed writing exercises and prompts, delivered free creative writing workshops in Merseyside libraries (Spellow, Garston, Toxteth and Birkenhead), and shortlisted the entries.
First Prize wins include the University of Liverpool Short Story Competition, the Northern Short Story Festival Flash Fiction Slam, WoWFest, and Book Week Scotland.
“I chose ‘Red Eye Reduction’ to be the overall winner because the story managed to combine so many elements with apparently so little effort. Structuring the narrative around the entirely visualisable but oddly abstract activity which is computer picture editing, the writer was able to handle characterisation while pulling in the other thematic strands with humour and panache.”
