Many thanks to everyone who sent us a story for this theme. We received 93 entries.

We enjoyed reading them all and send our hearty congratulations to the writers of our 25 longlisted stories. We’re still reading anonymously so no letting anyone know what your story is called if it’s on this list!

Longlisted Stories

• A circus inside her
• All eyes on me
• An invitation arrives addressed to the woman in the ‘See Her Change From Beauty to Beast’ booth
• Another kind of circus
• Cirque de la Vie
• Custard Pie
• Dandelion Clock Head
• Entertained at the Sollershot Circus
• Helen Joined the Circus
• Inside the Magical World of Claudia Dawson
• Learning Love from a Lemur
• Like a kid in a candy store
• O! my America
• On a Knife Edge
• Python Parlari
• Russian Dolls
• The Carousel
• The Circus
• The Elephant Man
• The Spirit of Jumbo and the Eternal Mother
• Tightwire
• Trapping the Snow Leopard
• Two for Joy
• We all fall down, and get up again?
• Wink