The Best Short Stories 2026: The O. Henry Prize Winners
The prestigious annual anthology features prize-winning stories by an international array of talented writers, including Weike Wang, Colm Tóibín, Louise Erdrich, Samanta Schweblin, Jenny Xie, Kevin Wilson, Brandon Taylor, and Catherine Lacey.
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 Tommy Orange has brought his own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and emerging voices. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Orange, observations from the winning writers on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines that publish short fiction.
THE WINNING STORIES
"Five Bridges," Colm Tóibín
"Flowers and Their Meanings," Marie-Helene Bertino
"American Realism," Brandon Taylor
"The Hare," Ismael Ramos, translated from the Galician by Jacob Rogers
"Where Are You and Where Is My Money," Ucheoma Onwutuebe
"Love of My Days," Louise Erdrich
"Stick Season," Jenny Xie
"She-Bear," Evgenia Nekrasova, translated from the Russian by Marianna Suleymanova
"This Time and the Next," Noel Quiñones
"Pretend," Mary Williams
"Case Study," Weike Wang
"Inês," João Pedro Vala
"Tender," Sarah LaBrie
"Earshot," Guka Han, translated from the French by Katie Shireen Assef
"The Masterclass," William Pei Shih
'Welcome to the Club," Samanta Schweblin, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell
"Waiting, a Quintet," Kimberly Blaeser
"Muscle to Muscle, Toe to Toe," Kim Samek
"All Stories," Kevin Wilson
"The Ghost Coat," Catherine Lacey
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Community Reviews
This collection of twenty award-winning short stories was gleaned from among thousands published in magazines over the prior year. The themes are mostly weighty and include homelessness, loss, caregiving, deception, emotional abuse, moving on, music, and others. As I worked through the collection, I didn’t find much competition against the first two stories, my favorites. Five Bridges is especially good. The one about homelessness—which I won’t name to avoid a spoiler—is impactful for what it leaves behind more than the read itself, but that is enough. Short story collections include a variety of topics and themes about which some readers have no interest, which might explain my take. Most of all, once Geraldine in Five Bridges stole my heart, there wasn’t much left for any other.
This book includes a forward by Tommy Orange, who found his footing in short form. His readers should enjoy hearing his thoughts. The authors provide insight about their inspiration, and the publication includes a list of magazine sources that will serve as a guide for lovers of this form.
Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Vintage and NetGalley for providing this ARC.
