What The Story Prize Judges Had to Say About Other Minds and Other Stories by Bennett Sims

photo © Beowulf Sheehan

When the three judges for The Story Prize make their choices, they write citations for their top choices. This year's judges were critic and writer Merve Emre, librarian Allison Escoto, and writer Tania James. We include the citations in congratulatory letters we present to each finalist, along with their checks ($20,000 to the winner, $5,000 to the other two finalists). To protect the confidentiality of the judges' votes and the integrity of the process, we don't attribute citations to any particular judge. Here's what the judges had to say about Other Minds and Other Stories by Bennett Sims: 

“Bennett Sims is an original. There are no other stories like the stories in Other Minds and Other Stories (except perhaps those in his previous collection). The book amounts to an intense and artful exploration of the difficulty of truly understanding other minds, and as such also serves as a deep dive into the question of individual identity, of the mind that is seeking to understand. Some of the stories seem to be as much essays or philosophical explorations as they are fiction and unfurl via a single, long unbroken paragraph, a form that echoes the work of the great W.G. Sebald. Sims is extremely erudite with an expansive vocabulary, but his choice of words never seems strained. Other Minds is a collection that challenges the reader but also offers satisfactions comparable to cracking a code or solving a puzzle. When you get it, you get it. These stories invite you to engage, to join the enquiry—and they never condescend. It is an impressive high-wire act, a reading experience unlike any other.”

Presenting the 20th Trio of Finalists for The Story Prize: Yiyun Li, Bennett Sims, and Paul Yoon

Now in its 20th year, The Story Prize is pleased to honor as its finalists three outstanding short story collections chosen from 113 submissions representing 84 different publishers or imprints. The range of story collections published in 2022 was broad and the quality was high, and it was difficult to narrow the list down to three books, as it usually is. 

This year's finalists are: 

• Wednesday's Child by Yiyun Li (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

• Other Minds and Other Strories by Bennett Sims (Two Dollar Radio)

• The Hive and the Honey by Paul Yoon (Marysue Rucci Books)

Yiyun Li was also a finalist in 2011. We will announce the winner of The Story Prize on the evening of Tuesday, March 26, at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with finalists Li, Sims, and Yoon, as well as the announcement of the winner and acceptance of the $20,000 top prize and the engraved silver bowl that goes with it. The runners-up will each receive $5,000. We plan to live-stream the event starting at 7:30 p.m. and will post a link before then and a video the next day. 

Story Prize Founder Julie Lindsey and Director Larry Dark selected the finalists. Three independent judges will determine the winner:

• Critic and author Merve Emre;
• Librarian Allison Escoto; and
• Writer Tania James

In the weeks ahead, we'll announce this year's winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award. We'll also publish a long list of other exceptional collections we read last year and information on how to watch the event. And you can find a list of the story collections we received in 2023 on Bookshop.org.