Wednesday, February 15, 2023

The Story Prize Longlist for Story Collections Published in 2022

In 2022, The Story Prize received 119 books published by 79 publishers or imprints. Every writer who published a short story collection last year accomplished something significant and deserves a lot of credit. 

The Story Prize announces its shortlist of three finalists first—as we did a few weeks ago—then releases its longlist later. The three finalists, The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner, and the longlist combine to highlight twenty books. Here's the list:

• How Strange a Season by Megan Mayhew Bergman (Scribner)
• Seeking Fortune Elsewhere by Sindya Bhanoo (Catapult)
• Pretend It's My Body by Luke Dani Blue (The Feminist Press)
• Tomorrow in Shanghai by May-Lee Chai (Blair)
• Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin (Catapult)
• If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Stories From the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana (Scribner)
• The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land by Omer Friedlander (Random House)
• A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times by Meron Hadero (Restless Books)
• Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho (Viking)
• Antipodes by Holly Goddard Jones (University of Iowa Press)
• The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai (Viking)
• The Partition by Don Lee (Akashic Press)
• Two Nurses Smoking by David Means (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Consequences by Manuel Muñoz (Graywolf Press)
• Nobody Gets Out Alive by Leigh Newman (Scribner)

We've put together a Bookshop list of story collections that we received in 2022, many of them worth reading, even beyond this list. We'll announce the 19th winner of The Story Prize on March 15 at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with the three finalists—Andrea Barrett, Ling Ma, and Morgan Talty. Before then, we'll provide links to watch the program live or online in the days that follow.