Two Hands by Amber Lim - LSBI winner 2025
Express Media is pleased to share the Year 7-9 winner of Little Stories, Big Ideas for 2025: ‘Two Hands’ by Amber Lim (VIC).
Little Stories, Big Ideas is a nation-wide flash fiction literary competition for Australian secondary school students. In 2025, Little Stories, Big Ideas joined the Express Media banner. Entrants write to a themed prompt in 100 words or less, in any literary style or genre. Entries for LSBI Round 1 2026 close on 17 May.
Two Hands
friction is—
two hands. and two hands rubbed together with the palms inward
(phoenix wings at the age of three)
make
heat.
at age five the clouds
were wedding rings. slippers. chopsticks. i said to my father—
what is that in the sky? and he interrupted cirrocumulus
and my nails grated frigidly in the wind.
two hands; two hands make childhood
in highschool i scraped my palms
on the iron edge of the poster marked classroom expectations
friction again, left me reeling in the open,
and it’s just a bruise said my teacher but it was cold like ice.
Amber Lim is an avid reader and writer of abstract prose whose goal is to create profound meaning from her words. For Amber, writing is a deeply introspective medium where she can express her own thoughts and emotions, and portray them in a way that resonates with readers.