The Best Short Stories 2025: The O. Henry Prize Winners

by Edward P. Jones (Editor), Jenny Minton Quigley (series_editor)

The prestigious annual story anthology, featuring prize-winning stories by a diverse and exciting array of writers.

Continuing a century-long tradition of cutting-edge literary excellence, this year's edition contains twenty prizewinning stories chosen from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year. Guest editor Edward P. Jones has brought his own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and emerging voices. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Jones, observations from the winning writers on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines that publish short fiction.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

416 pages, Paperback

Published September 9, 2025

About the author

Edward Paul Jones is an American novelist and short story writer. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the International Dublin Literary Award for his 2003 novel The Known World.

Reviews

[milo · Rating 3 out of 5]

sometimes the superbowl is a little boring and that’s true if you care about football or o. henry prizewinning short stories

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are 20 short stories in this book: some resonated with me, others did not. My rating is for the several stories I loved oh so much!

My favorites include: That Girl (Addie Citchens), The Arrow (Gina Chung), The Pleasure of a Working Life (Michael Deagler), City Girl (Alice Hoffman), Sickled (Jane Kalu), Winner (Ling Ma), Countdown (Anthony Marra), Just Another Family (Lori Ostlund), Mornings at the Ministry (Ehsaneh Sadr).

[kate lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for Audiofile Magazine 🎧

Edward P. Jones is tired of reading stories where nothing happens. His selections, read by a full cast, emphasize the sole responsibility of the fiction writer—to make stuff up. Rather than feeling mundane, these stories reignite what is quotidian with a sense of wonder—a chorus of small things. A postal worker; a set of hearing aids; an inked arrow; first kisses. Short stories already must do so much in so little time, these impeccable vocal partnerings propel you one step further into their world. There are few mismatches in this collection, but standout pairings include Kaleo Griffith’s perfect rendering of Wendell Berry’s heartrending “The Stackpole Legend,” Angel Pean’s sly, silky young lovers in Addie Citchens’s “That Girl” and Ari Fliakos’s dilapidated 30-something in Dave Eggers’s “Sanravelle.”

[Hanna Eisenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

apologies to every coffee shop I cried in while reading this and especially to that one girl who gave me her dirty napkin to dry my tears, you a real one fr

[Erin Witt · Rating 5 out of 5]

dark at times

[Noah Dolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've already complained about the un-Americanization of American literary prizes in my review of The Best Short Stories of 2024, so I won't bang the subject's drum too much here. I have no issues with the inclusion of translated works (as in the aforementioned collection, one of the best pieces here is one), but nor do I see harm in a country celebrating its own authors, be they native born or immigrants. Indeed doing so would allow each anthology to stand as a reflection of the country as it was in that year (albeit a very small and highly contoured one, the general leanings of authors being as they are) as opposed to a transnational (here I refrain from using the term "globalist" as I consider myself to be one in most non-literary contexts) collection of... good stories from 2024 (yeah the naming convention of the anthology is weird and is used to sell more copies) with few themes to bond them together. Ah well.

Won't break out the individual stories because the above paragraph is already so pretentiously long (and really, simply pretentious); I will instead limit myself to the 4 and 5 star stories, considering all others to be between 2 and 3.5.

5 Stars

There are no 5 star stories here.

4 Stars

"The Stackpole Legend" A whole throwback of a story. O Henry himself would be proud.

"The Arrow" There are a handful of stories about Asian American life in this anthology and the others I've read of late, but this one stands head and shoulders above the rest, thanks, in part, to it's reflections on modern motherhood.

"The Spit of Him" Not a fan of the ending but the dialogue is fantastic.

[Scott Baxter]

Last week the O. Henry Prize Winners was published in the United States and I have had a chance to read a few of the stories. I would like to focus on one story I enjoyed: Gina Chung’s “The Arrow”.

Here is the basic idea of the story:

“Here are some more facts: you are pregnant, and you do not know exactly who the father is because, in the span of one bad week, you slept with your ex, a chef whose late hours you still haven’t unlearned; your married coworker who says he and his wife are experimenting with ethical non-monogamy; and a tattoo artist you met in a cheesy bar in Williamsburg. This all took place in the days after you called home for the first time in a year to wish your mother a happy birthday and she hung up on you” (pgs 14-15).

So, just on the second page of the story you learn that the narrator is pregnant, that the father might be any of four different people she had sex with — none of which she seems to actually love — and that she has a less than great relationship with her mother. At this point, I would not want to be this person, but Chung has definitely captured my attention and I am emotionally invested in this woman.

I also appreciated this description of the pregnancy test kit:

“… you, staring at the stick balanced precariously on the edge of your bathroom sink and praying, Please, God, I’ll do anything, but you can’t think of what to say after that, what to offer that might be a fair trade for not being pregnant. When the pink cross appears, it feels like a confirmation of what you’ve known all along—that God, if he exists, does not give a shit” (p. 13).

I also enjoyed the end of the story:

”She does not tell you that she loves you, nor does she tell you that everything is going to be okay, because both of you are past believing things like that. And as the sun climbs over the lip of the sky, and the two of you watch its ascent, gold filling the corners of your apartment, you begin to understand that there is only this moment, and then the next, and then the next, and that the only thing to do in the meantime is to keep on living” (p. 29).

Have you read any good stories recently?

[Abby Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! I devoured this and love the short story format and how different each one was.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is not a bad story in this entire collection.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to review the collection when it is such a mixed bag. Do I think that these are the best? Probably not.

It starts on not a great foot, in my opinion, but gets stronger as it goes. Specifically I found The Pleasure of a Working Life and Hearing Aids to be my favorites.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a complicated relationship with short story collections—I love them, and I dislike them. I’m always hoping to find one that completely engages me, rather than just a handful of standout pieces. In this collection, my favorite by far was the opening story by Wendell Berry. The others ranged from good to less memorable, but overall it’s a solid collection. What I especially appreciated was the section at the end where the writers shared what inspired their stories; those reflections were often as engaging—and sometimes even more so—than the stories themselves.

[Jadey A · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many lovely and varied stories.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very focus on america's minorites and personal dramas.
In a way I felt it was nearly a political book.
The selection of shorts was undoubtedly heavily influenced by a left wing political bias.

If you are not american (I am not), you will lack context and miss the message of some shorts.


A couple were very good and funny, though.

[Daniel Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of twenty short stories. Doesn't rise to the level of last year's group, but there were a handful that stood out to me. Those five were:

- The Stackpole Legend by Wendell Berry - enjoyable story to begin the collection. A young farmer named Stump Stackpole attempts to court a neighboring woman. Berry's writing is refreshing and lived in.

- The Arrow by Gina Chung - a young Korean-American woman living in New York learns that she is pregnant and is unsure who the father is. Her mother, who she has a fraught relationship with, travels from California to be there for her. Well observed story about the complexities of a mother daughter relationship.

- The Pleasure of a Working Life by Michael Deagler - Pennsylvania area postel worker Gary Minihan reflects on his life and career as he enters the later stages of his working life. The author was inspired to write this by his father and grandfather's, two longtime postal employees. Introspective and highly relatable. My favorite in the collection.

- Countdown by Anthony Marra - Alexei, the younger brother of Kolya, from "The Tsar of Love and Techno" attempts to flee Russia with his wife and young daughter at the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Marra is a talented writer, and the fatalistic humor of this story is memorable. Powerfully rendered ending to this short story.

- Just Another Family by Lori Ostlund - After the death of her father, a woman and her wife return to her childhood home in rural Minnesota. While planning the deceased's services, the woman recalls past moments from her childhood, many of them distressing and bleak. This book was suffused with fatalistic humor. I found it compelling. The longest in the collection at just under fifty pages.

[Brittany Swearingen · Rating 5 out of 5]

city girl by Alice Hoffman
that girl by Addie Citchens
just another family by Lori Ostluns
shotgun calypso by Indya Finch
strange fruit by Yah Yah Scholfield !!!
three niles by Zak Saluh
blackbirds by Lindsey Drager
mornings at the ministry by Ehsaneh Sadr !!

[Matthew Bettencourt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would include my favorite stories here but they were all so good I might as well just recite the table of contents

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great stories in here, with only a few I'd consider skippable. I might make this a yearly tradition from now on.

[Lavanya]

Favorites:
The Spit of Him by Thomas Korsgaard,
Three Niles by Zak Salih,
Blackbirds by Lindsey Drager,
Mornings at the Ministry by Ehsaneh Sadr,
Sickled by Jane Kalu

[Frankkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to read The Best Short Stories 2025 since I dipped in and out, picking up a story here and there between other books. The collection definitely took me on a journey with so many different perspectives and voices.

I went through the whole range of emotions with this collection, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, and sometimes just straight-up WTF. (Strange Fruit I’m looking at you. I actually had to read it twice.) And Mornings at the Ministry? That one had me mad the whole time, lol.

I could probably write a mini-review about every single story because I have thoughts on all of them. It’s a great set of stories with some excellent and varied prose, and I really enjoyed the read.

(3.75 stars rounded up)

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Robert Yokoyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recurrent theme of pride makes this collection of short stories appealing to me. My favorite story is "The Pleasure of A Working Life" . This is a story about how a postal carrier takes a professional pride in his job by treating all his customers as special people. "Just Another Family" is another story I love. This is a story about a lesbian woman who takes pride in her sexuality, The main character also seeks acceptance for her relationship by the members of her family. " Just Another Family" is about striving to nurture the relationship people have with their siblings. Having a strong relationship with a sibling can also be a source of pride to me. "Three Niles" is another interesting story about how a father tries to instill a sense of national pride in his son by visiting Sudan and encouraging him to learn the Arabic language and participating in their food customs of killing a lamb. "Strange Fruit" is a story about a young girl takes a sense of physical pride for picking large quantities of fruit. The fruit isn't named in this story. The simple task of picking fruit can be an arduous task because of the height of the fruit on the tree. "Rosaura at Dawn" is a story about a young woman who learns a pride of caring for birds on a farm. The young woman's passion for birds is at the heart of this story. I love the stories in this book so much.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, the book was easy to read. I liked that it offered a variety of topics and subjects for the short stories. The story selection was something I wasn't expecting. I found the story “The Arrow,” by Gina Chung, to be the most compelling. It deals with many relatable themes of the mother-daughter dynamic. I found the story “Hearing Aids,” by Clyde Edgerton, to be the most thought-provoking. The story “That Girl,” by Addie Citchens was another compelling read because it was written so well and had some twists you might not expect. Finally, I think “City Girl,” by Alice Hoffman, offered a true-to-life perspective on teens and their views on life. The diverse author selection allows you to find a story that may interest you.

[Denice Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collections of short stories are one of my most recommended books to family and friends. When asked for author recommendations, I always offer up the numerous collections in my personal library, as this is where I find so many wonderful authors that I would never have chosen. Short stories require an author to flex their writing skills, capturing readers in fewer pages than many chapters in a novel. They must immediately immerse readers into a story in progress and bring the characters to life so quickly, all the "meat" of the mystery is revealed in just a few pages. This collection includes the best of the best and will be appreciated by my reading circle as we choose new books to share.

[Susan Scribner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as impressive as The Best Short Stories 2024: The O. Henry Prize Winners. The stories in this year's anthology are short on plot and character, but long on vibes. The only memorable one is Lori Ostlund's Just Another Family, which perfectly captures narrator Sybil's rural, emotionally repressed Lutheran family dynamics that she can't help adopting when she comes home for her father's funeral, to the bemusement of her intense Jewish girlfriend.

[ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

an incredible compilation of short stories. i think there’s something of great quality in here for anyone and everyone.

‘sanrevelle’ by dave eggers stood out as one of the most romantically evocative pieces of fiction i’ve ever read. an impressionistic, gatsby-esque story of a determined lover-boy chasing the girl that represents everything he reveres and aspires to.

‘mornings at the ministry’ by ehsaneh sadr is a zoomed-in tale, set in Iran, about how misogyny and jealousy festers within one man. poignant and evergreen across the globe and all of time.

[mark foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really like the selection of stories. I find with single author anthologies there can be stylistic fatigue, not here. Whoever's compiling these does a great job, too. A number of times I felt the intention behind the story order. As for the entries: won't pick a favorite, they're all good. I appreciate that we seem to be moving away from the "big twist" short stories. Often hackneyed and attention-grabbing. Most or all of these end on a punch but don't undersell the reader as some sort of rube. Will be reading the back catalogue!

[Daisy]

Solid collection, there is a sense of place and character in all of these stories that sticks with you. Personal favorites:

"The Arrow" by Gina Chung
"The Pleasure of a Working Life" by Michael Deagler
"Sanrevelle" by Dave Eggers
"Sickled" by Jane Kalu
"The Spit of Him" by Thomas Korsgaard
"Countdown" by Anthony Marra
"Mornings at the Ministry" by Ehsaneh Sadr
"Miracle in Lagos Traffic" by Chika Unigwe

[AnnMarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid little collection. As with any anthology, some stories land better than others. While the standouts were few, the ones that worked for me were genuinely enjoyable!

The five-star favorites are:
• “The Arrow” by Gina Chung
• “The Pleasure of a Working Life” by Michael Deagler
• “Blackbirds” by Lindsey Drager
• “Sickled” by Jane Kalu
• “Just Another Family” by Lori Ostland
• “Strange Fruit” by Ya Ya Scholfield

[Trish Remley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A chance to be aware of so much about life in so many different situations and places with such a variety of humans in one collection, in one book.

[Barb]

Impossible to rate a book that contains 20 unique stories. Some I enjoyed, others not at all.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are the 20 best short stories of 2025?
I was not impressed, disappointed even. Completely underwhelming.