Synopses & Reviews
Established early in the last century as a memorial to O. Henry, throughout its history this annual collection has consistently offered a remarkable sampling of contemporary short stories. Each year, stories are chosen from large and small literary magazines, and a panel of distinguished writers is enlisted to award top prizes. The result is a superb collection of seventeen inventive, full-bodied stories representing the very best in American and Canadian fiction. And in celebration of this distinguished literary form,
Prize Stories 2001 a Special Award for Continuing Achievement is presented to Alice Munro.
FIRST PRIZE
MARY SWAN
The Deep
SECOND PRIZE
DAN CHAON
Big Me
THIRD PRIZE
ALICE MUNRO
Floating Bridge
FRED G. LEEBRON
That Winter
T.CORAGHESSAN BOYLE
The Love of My Life
JOYCE CAROL OATES
The Girl with the Blackened Eye
DAVID SCHICKLER
The Smoker
ANTONYA NELSON
Female Trouble
ELIZABETH GRAVER
The Mourning Door
PICKNEY BENEDICT
Zog-19: A Scientific Romance
RON CARLSON
At the Jim Bridger
LOUISE EDRICH
Revival Road
WILLIAM GAY
The Paperhanger
DALE PECK
Bliss
MURAD KALAM
Bow Down
GEORGE SAUNDERS
Pastoralia
ANDREA BARRETT
Servants of the Map
Review
"The prestigious O. Henry Awards collection proves that the American short story remains a vigorous and relevant genre in the hands of talented writers." The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Review
"There are things here to please everyone's appetite." The Austin Chronicle
Review
"Widely regarded as the nation's most prestigious awards for short fiction." The Atlantic Monthly
Review
"In a collection boasting the wide range of writers and themes that has come to be expected of the O. Henry Awards, the biggest news might be the comeback of The New Yorker as magazine of the year. With only one story from the magazine making the cut last year, this time it boasts five of the winning selections and several more on the short list....As always, there will be debate about who should or should not have been included, but judges Mary Gordon, Michael Chabon, and Mona Simpson have proffered an engrossing collection proving that talent and imagination are alive and thriving in the American short story." Publishers Weekly
Review
"For this year's collection short fiction's version of the All-Star Team editor Dark has reduced the number of stories from twenty to seventeen in order to include three lengthier pieces. Refreshingly, each of the three longer stories departs from current fiction's overly familiar 'middle-class quotidian' terrain....The inclusion of historical fiction as well as wonderfully strange fare like Pinckney Benedict's 'Zog-19: A Scientific Romance,' about an alien made of iron and sentient gases who takes over the life and loves of a Seneca Valley farmer keeps the volume various and interesting, despite a small handful of desultory pieces....A strong year for the series." Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Larry Dark is the editor of four anthologies, Literary Outtakes, The Literary Ghost, The Literary Lover, and The Literary Traveler. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey. Michael Chabon is the author, most recently, of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. He lives in northern California. Mary Gordon is the author of Final Payments, The Company of Women and most recently the biography Joan of Arc. She is a professor of English at Barnard College. Mona Simpson is the author of Off Keck Road and Anywhere But Here. She is a professor at Bard College.