- The Words of Dr. L. by Karen E. Bender (Counterpoint)
- Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino (FSG Originals)
- Whites By Mark Doten (Graywolf Press)
- A Love Story From the End of the World by Juhea Kim (Ecco)
- Save Me Stranger by Erika Krouse (Flatiron Books)
- Guatemalan Rhapsody by Jared Lemus (Ecco)
- Code Noir by Canisia Lubrin (Soft Skull)
- Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore (Tin House)
- Open Up by Thomas Morris (The Unnamed Press)
- Are You Happy? by Lori Ostlund (Astra House)
- Waiting for the Long Night Moon by Amanda Peters (Catapult)
- Stag Dance by Torrey Peters (Random House)
- Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House)
- Small Scale Sinners by Mahreen Sohail (A Public Space)
- Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski (Simon & Schuster)
- The Pelican Child by Joy Williams (Alfred A. Knopf)
As we always say (and truly believe), anyone who writes and publishes a short story collection has overcome significant obstacles, has accomplished something noteworthy, and deserves enormous credit. As always, we received more worthwhile short story collections than we could possibly mention without making our longlist too long to be meaningful. We encourage readers to explore the full list of 2025 collections entered for The Story Prize on Bookshop.org.
We'll announce the 22nd winner of The Story Prize on March 31 at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with the three finalists—André Alexis, Lydia Millet, and Ayşegül Savaş. Before then, we'll provide a link to watch the program live or online in the days that follow the announcement of the winner.
