The Best Short Stories 2021: The O. Henry Prize Winners

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · Jenny Minton Quigley

Sep 2021 · Sold by Anchor

About this ebook

Twenty prizewinning stories selected from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year—continuing the O. Henry Prize's century-long tradition of literary excellence. 

"Widely regarded as the nation's most prestigious awards for short fiction." —The Atlantic Monthly.

Now entering its second century, the prestigious annual story anthology has a new title, a new look, and a new guest editor. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has brought her own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and young emerging voices. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Adichie, observations from the winning writers on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines that publish short fiction.

Featured in this collection: Daphne Palasi Andreades • David Means • Sindya Bhanoo • Crystal Wilkinson • Alice Jolly • David Rabe • Karina Sainz Borgo (translator, Elizabeth Bryer) • Jamel Brinkley • Tessa Hadley • Adachioma Ezeano • Anthony Doerr • Tiphanie Yanique • Joan Silber • Jowhor Ile • Emma Cline • Asali Solomon • Ben Hinshaw • Caroline Albertine Minor (translator, Caroline Waight) • Jianan Qian • Sally Rooney

About the author

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE grew up in Nigeria. Her work has been translated into thirty languages and has appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, Granta, and Zoetrope. She is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus (winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award); Half of a Yellow Sun (recipient of the Women's Prize for Fiction "Winner of Winners" award), Americanah (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award), the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck, and the essays We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, both national bestsellers. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.


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.