The Story Prize revealed the three finalists for its 2024/2025 award, given annually to an outstanding short story collection.
Fiona McFarlane made the shortlist for Highway Thirteen, which deals with the aftermath of a serial killer who murdered 12 people in a small Australian town. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus praised the book as “addictively engaging, profoundly serious fiction from an underappreciated master.”
Ruben Reyes Jr. was named a finalist for There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, his collection of surrealist short stories about the lives of Central Americans. The book also received a starred review from Kirkus, with a critic calling it “haunting, tender, and profound meditations on the experiences of Central American migrants and their families.”
Rounding out the shortlist was Jessi Jezewska Stevens for Ghost Pains, which explores how history affects the lives of her sometimes chaotic characters. A Kirkus reviewer wrote of the book, “Erudite, eloquent, and bittersweet—these stories are like chewing on the orange rind for a last bitter taste of the drink.”
The Story Prize was first awarded in 2005. Previous winners include Patrick O’Keeffe for The Hill Road, Elizabeth McCracken for Thunderstruck, and Deesha Philyaw for The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.
This year’s winner, announced at a ceremony on March 25, will be selected by a judging panel made up of authors Elliott Holt and Maurice Carlos Ruffin and bookseller Lucy Yu.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
