Save the Short Story

The Story Prize has announced its three finalists this year:

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

 by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Drift: Stories by Victoria Patterson

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Stories

 by Wells Tower

The finalists were selected from 78 story collections from 53 different publishers or imprints.

The Story Prize is one of the largest prizes given for a collection of short stories. The winner is presented with $20,000 and an engraved silver bowl. The two runners-up both receive $5,000.

Last year I got on Larry Dark’s bad side when I implied that the last author listed always won the prize. Apparently, the authors are listed in alphabetical order and it was JUST A COINCIDENCE that the last author won several years in a row. Soooooo, that being said, my money’s on Wells Tower.

The awards ceremony will be held on March 3 at 7:30pm at the Tishman Auditorium in New York City. For tickets, contact the New School box office at 212-229-5488 or click here.

Popularity: 17% [?]

According to The Guardian, 2009 was the year of the short story. I’m going to have to agree with them. After all, Oprah chose a short story collection for her book club for the very first time, Alice Munro won the Man Booker International, Elizabeth Strout’s short story collection was awarded the Pulitzer, and great short story collections were published.

One Story’s subscriptions are higher than ever, which surprised us–after all, the economy is forcing all of us to tighten our wallets.

It seems like the popularity of the short story may be on the rise. We must be doing a great job saving it. You can read the rest of what The Guardian said here.

Popularity: 20% [?]