Him, Me, Muhammad Ali by Randa Jarrar—This Year's Winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award

In addition to naming three finalists each January, we also award The Story Prize Spotlight Award to a short story collection of exceptional merit. Winners of The Story Prize Spotlight Award can be promising works by first-time authors, collections in alternative formats, or works that demonstrate an unusual perspective on the writer's craft. The winner receives a prize of $1,000.

This year's winner is Him, Me, Muhammad Ali by Randa Jarrar (Sarabande Books), a collection of thirteen bold and varied stories that utilize an array of narrative strategies and present characters who often are or feel like outsiders. No matter the setting Jarrar chooses or the form she employs, her storytelling skills and empathy for her characters—who are often Arab Americans—shine through.

Past winners of The Story Prize Spotlight Award have been Krys Lee's Drifitng House, Ben Stroud's Byzantium, Kyle Minor's Praying Drunk, and Adrian Tomine's Killing and Dying. 

Author Rand Jarrar, winner of
The Story Prize Spotlight Award

This is not the first book published by Sarabande Books to win The Story Prize Spotlight Award. It also published the winner two years ago, Praying Drunk by Kyle Minor. In recent years, Sarabande has moved from being a regionally focused small press to one that now publishes an array of interesting and innovative books, a substantial number of which are short story collections.

Congratulations to Randa Jarrar and Sarabande Books for winning The Story Prize Spotlight Award for short story collections published in 2016.