Short stories on Fictionable
As part of our Flip through Flanders programme promoting Dutch-language literature from Flanders across the UK and Ireland, Judith Vanistendael and Rachida Lamrabet published a short story on Fictionable. Fictionable is a literary magazine devoted to the best new short stories from around the world. Get a glimpse of their stories.

‘Two Girls on Bicycles’ by Rachida Lamrabet

A phone call is a signal from a life left behind in this short story from Rachida Lamrabet, translated from Dutch by Johanna McCalmont and published in January 2025.
“My phone had been ringing all morning, but it wasn’t until the sixth call from this unknown number that I broke my own rule and picked up. Maybe it wasn’t a scammer trying to extract my passwords, pin codes or some other personal data so they could steal every last cent, perhaps it was some fairytale fantasy where the person on the other end of the line couldn’t wait to share some wonderful news. For all I knew, someone was calling on behalf of a long-lost elderly aunt who wanted to leave me her castle and her fortune.”
‘The Small Story’ by Judith Vanistendael
Two boys, two bikes and a bag of peas. Judith Vanistendael sets off in advance of the German Blitzkreig.

Following the publication in October 2024, Judith talked to Richard Lea on the Fictionable podcast. She talks about how this graphic short started when she began thinking about her own family, and how the funny story her grandfather Jef told about his bike trip to France in 1940 was actually “part of big historical events”.
Judtih also talks about her other work. One of the large stories that runs through it is the experience of refugees. Her first graphic novel, ‘Dance by the Light of the Moon’, is an autobiographical story about her first relationship.
A number of other topics are covered as well: her transition to working digitally, what AI could mean for the future of her craft, why the act of making is “such a deep pleasure” that it almost doesn’t matter if a story gets published or not, and how fiction is “very important, because that's the way to the heart”.