The Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012 (Pen / O. Henry Prize Stories)

A collection of the twenty best contemporary short stories selected by series editor Laura Furman from hundreds of literary magazines, The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 features unforgettable tales in settings as diverse as post-war Vietnam, a luxurious seaside development in Cape Town, an Egyptian desert village, and a permanently darkened New York City. Also included are essays from the eminent jurors on their favorite stories, observations from the winners on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012 gathers twenty of the best short stories of the year, selected from thousands published in literary magazines. These remarkable stories explore the boundaries of the imagination in settings as various as an army training camp in China, the salt mines of Detroit, a divided Balkan town, and the eye of a hurricane. Also included are essays from the eminent jurors on their favorite stories, observations from the winners on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines.

Laura Furman, series editor of The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories since 2003, is the winner of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts for her fiction. The author of seven books, including her recent story collection The Mother Who Stayed, she taught writing for many years at the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Central Texas.

 

Introduction by Laura Furman, Series Editor

 

"Uncle Rock" by Dagoberto Gilb, The New Yorker

 

"The Vandercook" by Alice Mattison, Ecotone

 

"Leak" by Sam Ruddick, The Threepenny Review

 

"Nothing Living Lives Alone" by Wendell Berry, The Threepenny Review

 

"The First Wife" by Christine Sneed, New England Review

 

"A Birth in the Woods" by Kevin Wilson, Ecotone

 

"Naima" by Hisham Matar, The New Yorker

 

"Mickey Mouse" by Karl Taro Greenfeld, Santa Monica Review

 

"Things Said or Done' by Ann Packer, Zoetrope

 

"East of the West" by Miroslav Penkov, Orion

 

"A Brush" by John Berger, Harper’s

 

"Kindness" by Yiyun Li, A Public Space

 

"Phantoms" by Steven Millhauser, McSweeney’s Quarterly

 

"Boys Town" by Jim Shepard, The New Yorker

 

"The Hare’s Mask" by Mark Slouka, Harper’s

 

"Eyewall" by Lauren Groff, Subtropics

 

"Rothko Eggs" by Keith Ridgway, Zoetrope

 

"The Deep" by Anthony Doerr, Zoetrope

 

"The Woman Who Lived in the House" by Salvatore Scibona, A Public Space

 

"Corrie" by Alice Munro, The New Yorker

 

 Reading The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012

The Jurors on Their Favorites: Mary Gaitskill, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Ron Rash

 

Writing The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012

The Writers on Their Work

 

Recommended Stories 2012

Publications Submitted