Video of The Story Prize Event: winner Fiona McFarlane and finalists Ruben Reyes Jr. and Jessi Jezewska Stevens

Here's the video of The Story Prize event held on March 25, 2025. Apologies to those who attempted to watch the live stream. Technical difficulties at the venue caused insurmountable problems.

What The Story Prize Judges Had to Say About Highway Thirteen by Story Prize Winner Fiona McFarlane

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 writer and editor Elliott Holt, writer Maurice Carlos Ruffin, and bookseller Lucy Yu. 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 Highway Thirteen by Fiona McFarlane.

“Highway Thirteen is a kaleidoscopic collection, offering a multifaceted view of the ordinary people affected by one serial killer in Australia. Fiona McFarlane writes with psychological precision and a masterful sense of suspense. Each story is artfully constructed and the way they fit together, spanning twenty-eight years, is nothing short of dazzling. Fiona McFarlane’s book is a tour de force about the stories we tell, the surprising ways our lives connect, and the ripple effects of violence.”

The 21st Winner of The Story Prize Is Highway Thirteen by Fiona McFarlane!

Photo: Beowulf Sheehan

The winner of The Story Prize for books published in 2024 is Fiona McFarlane for Highway Thirteen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). The other finalists were Ruben Reyes Jr. for There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven (Mariner Books) and Jessi Jezewska Stevens for Ghost Pains (And Other Stories). The Story Prize’s $20,000 top prize is among the largest first-prize amounts of any annual U.S. book award for fiction. As runners-up, Reyes and Stevens each received $5,000. 

Highway Thirteen is McFarlane's fourth book of fiction and her second short story collection. The judges cited the book for the conceptual and thematic ingenuity of the collection as a whole and the precise and astute execution of the individual stories.

Director Larry Dark and Founder Julie Lindsey selected the three finalists for The Story Prize, now in its 21st year, from among 107 short story collections published in 2024, representing 87 different publishers or imprints. Three judges—writer and editor Elliott Holt; writer Maurice Carlos Ruffin, and bookseller Lucy Yu—determined the winner from among the three books chosen as finalists.

Live-Stream The Story Prize event on March 25 at 7:30 p.m.

The Story Prize event is just a week away. Although we're having a private award night this year, you can watch it live on YouTube. 

What you'll see and hear is the three finalists for The Story Prize for books published in 2024—Fiona McFarlane for Highway Thirteen (Farra, Straus and Giroux), Ruben Reyes Jr. for There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven (Mariner Books), and Jessi Jezewska Stevens for Ghost Pains (And Other Stories)—read from and discuss their short story collections before we announce the 21st winner of The Story Prize and present that writer with an engraved silver bowl and the top prize of $20,000. The other two finalists will each take home $5,000.

Finalists: Fiona McFarlane, Ruben Reyes Jr., Jessi Jezewska Stevens

If you miss the live-stream, you'll still be able to watch the video on our website and on YouTube in the days that follow. You can find videos of past events under the WINNERS menu on our home page or on YouTube.

The 2024/25 Story Prize Finalists Are Fiona McFarlane, Ruben Reyes Jr., and Jessi Jezewska Stevens

The Story Prize, now in its 21st year, is pleased to honor as its finalists three outstanding short story collections chosen from 107 submissions representing 82 different publishers or imprints. Although it's no easy task to narrow the list down to three books, these collections particularly stood out for their originality in concept and execution.

The finalists are: 

• Highway Thirteen by Fiona McFarlane (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes Jr. (Mariner Books)
• Ghost Pains by Jessi Jezewska Stevens (And Other Stories)

Highway Thirteen portrays moments in the lives of characters peripherally connected to an Australian serial killer—from a next door neighbor to an actor playing the killer in a limited TV series to a retired police officer. There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven offers formally inventive narratives contemplating and riffing on aspects of Central American migration to the U.S. Ghost Pains provides a series of precisely written and keenly observed stories about characters in Europe and America facing quotidian predicaments in a time of cultural dissonance.

We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize on the evening of Tuesday, March 25, at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with finalists McFarlane, Reyes, and Stevens. The top prize is $20,000 and an engraved silver bowl. 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 the video in the days that follow. 

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

• Writer and editor Elliott Holt;
• Writer Maurice Carlos Ruffin; and
• Bookseller Lucy Yu

In the weeks ahead, we'll announce this year's winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award. We'll also publish a longlist of other exceptional collections we read last year. You can find a complete list of the story collections we received in 2024 on Bookshop.org.