The Best Short Stories 2023

LAUREN GROFF is a three-time National Book Award finalist and The New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, Fates and Furies, and Matrix, and the celebrated story collections Delicate Edible Birds and Florida. She has won The Story Prize, the PEN/O. Henry Award, and been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work regularly appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and elsewhere, and she was named one of Granta s 2017 Best Young American Novelists. Her most recent novel is The Vaster Wilds.

JENNY MINTON QUIGLEY is the author of a memoir, The Early Birds, and editor of the anthology Lolita in the Afterlife. She lives in West Hartford, Connecticut, with her husband, sons, and dogs.

The prestigious annual story anthology includes prize-winning stories by Jamil Jan Kochai, David Ryan, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Lisa Taddeo, Ling Ma, Catherine Lacey, and Cristina Rivera Garza.

[A] standout collection . . . . Dazzling performances from some of today s most exciting writers. . . . This is one of the best fiction anthologies in years. Publishers Weekly starred review

Continuing a century-long tradition of cutting-edge literary excellence, this year's edition contains twenty prizewinning stories chosen from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year. Guest editor Lauren Groff has brought her own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and emerging voices and including several stories in translation. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Groff, observations from the winning writers on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines that publish short fiction. AN ANCHOR BOOKS ORIGINAL.

THE WINNING STORIES:
Office Hours, by Ling Ma
Man Mountain, by Catherine Lacey
Me, Rory and Aurora, by Jonas Eika,
translated from the Danish by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg
The Complete, by Gabriel Smith
The Haunting of Hajji Hotak," by Jamil Jan Kochai
Wisconsin, by Lisa Taddeo
Ira & the Whale, by Rachel B. Glaser
The Commander s Teeth, by Naomi Shuyama-Gómez
The Mad People of Paris, Rodrigo Blanco Calderón,
translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead
Snake & Submarine, by Shelby Kinney-Lang
The Mother, by Jacob M hango
The Hollow, by Pemi Aguda
Dream Man, by Cristina Rivera Garza,
translated from the Spanish by Francisca González-Arias
The Locksmith, by Grey Wolfe LaJoie
After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool, by Kirstin Valdez Quade
Happy Is a Doing Word, by Arinze Ifeakandu
Elision, by David Ryan
Xífù, by K-Ming Chang
Temporary Housing, by Kathleen Alcott
The Blackhills, by Eamon McGuinness

Foreword by Jenny Minton Quigley, series editor
Introduction by Lauren Groff, guest editor

Office Hours, by Ling Ma

Man Mountain, by Catherine Lacey

Me, Rory and Aurora, by Jonas Eika,
translated from the Danish by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg
 
The Complete, by Gabriel Smith

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak," by Jamil Jan Kochai

Wisconsin, by Lisa Taddeo

Ira & the Whale, by Rachel B. Glaser

The Commander s Teeth, by Naomi Shuyama-Gómez

The Mad People of Paris, Rodrigo Blanco Calderón,
translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead
 
Snake & Submarine, by Shelby Kinney-Lang

The Mother, by Jacob M hango

The Hollow, by Pemi Aguda

Dream Man, by Cristina Rivera Garza,
translated from the Spanish by Francisca González-Arias
 
The Locksmith, by Grey Wolfe LaJoie

After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool, by Kirstin Valdez Quade

Happy Is a Doing Word, by Arinze Ifeakandu

Elision, by David Ryan

Xífù, by K-Ming Chang

Temporary Housing, by Kathleen Alcott

The Blackhills, by Eamon McGuinness

The Writers on Their Work
Publisher s Note: A Brief History of the O. Henry Prize
How the Stories Are Chosen
Acknowledgments
Publications Submitted
Permissions