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

by Edward P. Jones (Editor)

The prestigious annual story anthology, featuring prize-winning stories by a diverse and exciting array of writers, including Wendell Berry, Alice Hoffman, Dave Eggers, Ling Ma, Lori Ostlund, and Anthony Marra.

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.

THE WINNING STORIES

“The Stackpole Legend,” Wendell Berry
“The Arrow,” Gina Chung
“That Girl,” Addie Citchens
“The Pleasure of a Working Life,” Michael Deagler
“Blackbirds,” Lindsey Drager
“Hearing Aids,” Clyde Edgerton
“Sanrevelle,” Dave Eggers
“Stump of the World,” Madeline ffitch
“Shotgun Calypso,” Indya Finch
“City Girl,” Alice Hoffman
“Sickled,” Jane Kalu
“The Spit of Him,” Thomas Korsgaard, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken
“Winner,” Ling Ma
“Countdown,” Anthony Marra
“Just Another Family,” Lori Ostlund
“Mornings at the Ministry,” Ehsaneh Sadr
“Rosaura at Dawn,” Daniel Saldaña París, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney
“Three Niles,” Zak Salih
“Strange Fruit,” Yah Yah Scholfield
“Miracle in Lagos Traffic,” Chika Unigwe

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, American, 21st Century, American Fiction, Anthologies

416 pages, Kindle Edition

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

[Gila Gila · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed collection; a few pieces so limp that I was puzzled by their inclusion, balanced by a handful of marvelous, memorable stories. More of the in between than anything else. Still, good to see authors from such a wide array of backgrounds, and wonderful to find stories from 3 authors whose novels I've loved. I'll start with those. (These mini reviews are not in any order, and don't include the full collection, as there were stories I simply didn't take notes on. Also - the star system is useless here, with a handful of wonders shining amongst the rest).

Countdown, by Anthony Marra
Ever since reading The Tsar of Love and Techno, Anthony Marra's stunning 2015 debut, I've carried its last pages with me. What an unexpected gift to find that his story Countdown, included here, is a companion piece - though it's also a terrific standalone story. A desperate couple living just outside of Moscow with their 6 year old daughter strive to make it out of the country at the beginning of Russia's attack on the Ukraine. The husband and father has perpetually screwed things up, knows he has to make good here. Time is everything and everywhere in Countdown, possibilities ticking away. I'm not going to say anything more - the piece is very short and a tightrope act - it's online in an old copy of Zoetrope if anyone is unlikely to read this anthology.

That Girl, by Addie Citchens
A life changing friendship between 2 girls, this story jumps off the page, loud and alive. The girls discovering themselves through their growing connection, the day to day life of the neighborhood and one particular house, all vividly portrayed. There's quietly delivered and rare insight into the lives of gay teens in the deep South, also one of the themes of Addie Citchens' masterful novel, Dominion. This story made me ache. I'd love to read an expanded version of That Girl as a novel.

Stump of the World, by Madeleine Ffitch
A single mother coping with a delinquent young son. He's angry, smart, at war with his family and the world. As difficult as he may be, his mama can barely hold herself back from shouting out in his defense, she sees what he sees all too clearly. I was increasingly pulled in by the unusual take on parenting this story offers, and moved by the combination of harsh realism and beautiful writing.

Strange Fruit, by Yah Yah Schofield
This story shook me from start to harrowing finish. I'm new to this author, and was struck by her poetry, how in just a few sentences she was able to summon a very specific family in a jarring, dreamscape-to-nightmare setting. The sun rises. An entire neighborhood leaves their homes and sets off to the fruit fields, machetes gleaming. I was so anxious so fast.
There's always crying on the Harvest Days.
This is an incredible, searing piece of writing from a fiction genre rarely found in the annual Best Stories anthologies. Strange Fruit is terrifying and heartbreaking. It made me wish Billie Holiday could read it, and Abel Meeropol, the poet who first wrote the words of the song, decrying the terrible sorrows visited upon on Black Americans.

The Arrow, by Gina Chung
An unexpected pregnancy, and its effect on a long strained relationship between a woman and her difficult, judgmental mother. There are some fine moments - If you had known that all it would take was getting pregnant for your mother to love you, you would have done it ages ago, and I was rooting for our loved-too-little protagonist, but ultimately I was left numb. I found the ending unlikely and bordering on trite, but this could well simply be me: this story has been mentioned as a favourite in many reviews, both here and by literary critics.

The Pleasure of a Working Life, by Michael Beagler
About a postal worker in his 30s who accepts an offer to switch from delivering the mail to running a small post office situated in a mall, surprising even himself.
At the United States Postal Service, there were outdoor people and indoor people, and it was rare for an outdoor person to be invited inside.
But inside he goes, first to be met with disappointing boredom, then with unexpected, possibly criminal activity. After an initially interesting premise, the disparate parts here never come together. More than anything else, there's a lack of textured personality to the main character - we never truly get to know him.

Just Another Family, by Lori Ostlund
Shards of glass in the raw meat.
Not the only part of this story that made me cringe, told by a woman and her lesbian partner returning to the narrator's childhood home upon the death of her father, but the sad memories of her undemonstrative, sometimes criminally cruel Minnesota family leave a mark. A worthwhile, if sometimes painful read.

City Girl, Alice Hoffman
When I realized this was a story set in the Manhattan of the 1980s, I was ready to go, following a young dancer who was hitting clubs I knew well back then - the Limelight,
The Roxy and Tramps. Like so many others (cough) this girl makes a series of poor choices, takes wrong paths glittering all too brightly in those times, leading her to blindly hook up with a crack addict. She's one of the lucky ones, has a stepfather who's ready to step in. The tone is strangely golden lit for a story set in the grit of the NYC scene of that era, though ultimately this is more about the relationship of a teenager and her stepfather than it is about the world of pre-internet, drug fueled city nightlife. It's a sweet story but ultimately shows us nothing new.

The Stackpole Legend, by Wendell Berry
I am mystified as to how this (literally) flatulent nonsense was awarded a spot here, even if it is Wendell Berry. Pointless.

Blackbird, by Lindsay Draper
Asthmatic 8 year old girl at school has forgotten her inhaler. Repetitive and in need of an edit, this often read like a story from a college writing class.

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Stackpole Legend - Wendell Berry 4 / 5
The Arrow - Gina Chung 3 / 5
That Girl - Addie Citchens 3 / 5
The Pleasure of a Working Life - Michael Deagler 5 / 5
Blackbirds - Lindsey Drager 5 / 5
Hearing Aids - Clyde Edgerton 4 / 5
Sanrevelle - Dave Eggers 5 / 5
Stump of the World - Madeline fftch 4 / 5
Shotgun Calypso - Indya Finch 3 / 5
City Girl - Alice Hoffman 4 / 5
Sickled - Jane Kalu 4 / 5
The Spit of Him - Thomas Korsgaard 3 / 5
Winner - Ling Ma 4 / 5
Countdown - Anthony Marra 5 / 5
Just Another Family - Lori Ostlund 2 / 5 more like novella length
Mornings at the Ministry - Ehsaneh Sadr 3 / 5
Rosaura at Dawn - Daniel Saldaña París 5 / 5
Three Niles - Zak Salih 5 / 5
Strange Fruit - Yah Yah Scholdfield 3 / 5
Miracle in Lagos Traffic - Chika Unigwe 3 / 5

Out of those I gave 5 stars to above, by a narrow margin I would say Three Niles would be the best, about a 13 year old boy of Sudanese heritage, now living in the US, on a three day visit to see his grandfather along with his father.
Rosaura at Dawn, or Sanrevelle would be very close second / third places.

If I was to criticise the award winning choices and would be just to ask for more variety; more worldwide and in translation (a frequent criticism of mine when it comes to American anthologies), and from more genres, horror, fantasy, magic realism, noir, which are not represented at all here.

[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).

[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

[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.”

[Christie Bane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every time I give short stories another try, I end up — again — remembering that this just is not my favorite kind of writing. These are the best of the best, supposedly, but I can barely remember a one of them after reading them. Also, every one of them reads as having been workshopped to death. In the author section at the end of the book, many authors said their stories took YEARS to revise. Really?? Years for something I’ve forgotten two minutes after reading it? That’s just depressing. Even though I still talk about an MFA, the truth is that 90% or more of what MFA authors produce is just too precious for me.

[Abby Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[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.

[syd · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Hearing Aids” - Clyde Edgerton

[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?

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is not a bad story in this entire collection.

[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

[Harper]

Favs:
Stump of the World by Madeline ffitch
Just Another Family by Lori Ostlund
Sanrevelle by Dave Eggers
That Girl by Addie Citchens

[Nathan Bickel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this—a good way to start off the year. Wide range in backgrounds/length but I found almost all 20 of the stories really compelling

[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.

[Kira Ciccarelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorites: the arrow, the pleasures of a working life, blackbirds, three niles, strange fruit

[Becca Cleveland · Rating 3 out of 5]

some hits, some misses (as with all short story collections). Ling Ma is amazing, as always

[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 !!

[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.

[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.

[Finnegan McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

The primary emotion I experienced while reading these stories was joy. Joy, because there is so much bad writing in the world, but none of it here. Guest editor Edward P. Jones has great taste. Every story in this collection has an intriguing premise, an elegant structure, and an emotional heart beating strong at its core.

These stories span many themes and topics. The Stackpole Legend, Sanrevelle, and That Girl give us love stories. Blackbirds, Sickled, and Miracle in Lagos Traffic give us harrowing accounts of illness, whether mental or physical. The Arrow and Three Niles explore family. The Spit of Him and Countdown give us good old-fashioned suspense. And others, like Shotgun Calypso, Stump of the World, and Mornings at the Ministry (three of my favorites in the collection) give us so many things at once that we give up trying to describe them; they fill us with something we feel strongly but struggle to name.

Stephen King wrote an essay in 2007 lamenting the state of the “modern” short story. Maybe things have changed since then, or maybe he was wrong all along. I’m here to report that the modern short story is not only alive and well, but positively thriving.

Individual story ratings:

The Stackpole Legend - Wendell Barry: 4 stars
The Arrow - Gina Chung: 5 stars
That Girl - Addie Citchens: 4 stars
The Pleasure of a Working Life - Michael Deagler: 4 stars
Blackbirds - Lindsey Drager: 4 stars
Hearing Aids - Clyde Edgerton: 3 stars
Sanrevelle - Dave Eggers: 4 stars
Stump of the World - Madeline ffitch: 5 stars
Shotgun Calypso - Indya Finch: 5 stars
City Girl - Alice Hoffman: 5 stars
Sickled - Jane Kalu: 5 stars
The Spit of Him - Thomas Korsgaard: 4 stars
Winner - Ling Ma: 3 stars
Countdown - Anthony Marra: 4 stars
Just Another Family - Lori Ostlund: 4 stars
Mornings at the Ministry - Ehsaneh Sadr: 5 stars
Rosaura at Dawn - Danie Saldana Paris: 3 stars
Three Niles - Zak Salih: 4 stars
Strange Fruit - Yah Yah Scholfield: 4 stars
Miracle in Lagos Traffic - Chika Unigwe: 4 stars

[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.