
WELKIN PRIZE 2026 - SHORTLISTED
The Bit Part Actress
by Jo Withers

The bit part actress is a corpse today. She lies naked under a white morgue sheet waiting to be revealed.
Her face is rarely seen. Her filmography is a catalogue of dismembered parts – a plump breast jiggling in the background of an orgy scene, the moonlit legs of a waitress walking home alone.
She exists on the outskirts, never meant for a main role. Once she almost went to acting college. Once she almost moved to Hollywood. Once she almost got married. Once she almost had children.
A life of half-happenings discarded on the cutting room floor.
Jo Withers writes short fiction with ghoulish undertones. Previous work has featured in The Molotov Cocktail, SmokeLong Quarterly, Fractured Lit, Bath Flash Fiction and other places. Jo is currently studying her Masters in Education which is seriously impeding creative writing time.



