The Pushcart Prize XLV: Best of the Small Presses 2021 Edition

by Bill Henderson (Editor)

Pushcart Prize XLV is continuing evidence that much of today’s vibrant writing appears only in small journals and book presses.



The series has been selected for Publishers Weekly Carey Thomas Award, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof citation, and the Poets and Writers/Barnes and Noble “Writers For Writers” award among others.



Here are 70 authors from more than 50 presses as selected from the nominations of 220 distinguished Contributing Editors and 800 participating presses.



Recent reviews include:

“Essential.” Library Journal

“Must reading” Kirkus Reviews

“Distinguished.” New York Times Book Review

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays

600 pages, Paperback

Published December 8, 2020

About the author

Bill Henderson (born April 5, 1941) is an American author, editor and publisher best known for his memoirs and the Pushcart Prize series.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I say every year, this is the best anthology around. Here are my top 10 of this edition (in order of appearance):

1. The Master's Castle by Anthony Doerr: this was a close-to-perfect short story
2. Touch by Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: this essay about platonic/medicinal touch in Chinese society was especially poignant to read in 2020
3. Late Rumspringa by Austin Smith: so many perfect details
4. The Lonely Ruralist by Janisse Ray: also very 2020
5. Charlie by Colleen O'Brien: such great first-person narration that I thought it was an autobiographical essay
6. Marceline Wanted a Bigger Adventure by Shena McAuliffe: a fascinating look at Jim Jones' wife
7. Laramie Time by Lydia Conklin: a portrait of the end of a relationship
8. "A Beloved Duck Gets Cooked" by Lydia Davis: I LOVE deep dives like this into grammar and literary influences.
9. Freak Corner by John Rolfe Gardiner: Gardiner's writing style was a bit much for me, but I loved the plot of this one
10. The Night Drinker by Luis Alberto Urrea: an end-of-the-world horror story

[Nathanimal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Darrell Kinsey's 'Upright at Thyatira,' originally from Noon (a great lit journal) was odd and memorable and wonderful.

There were others, but they were few. I would hope the 'best' of the small presses to be not only proficient (plenty of that here) but interesting and adventurous. Please drag up some deep sea fishes and let them sting me.

[derek allard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read every edition since 2008 and, as always, this one has some wow work in it. For me, “Teamwork” by Shawn Vestal, “Charlie” by Colleen O’Brien, “Aunt Job” by Nickalus Rupert, and “Something Street” by Carolyn Ferrell were all stories that were marvelous and lingering. Stunningly good work. And there were plenty of other stories, poems, and essays that were excellent. A good year for this venerable anthology.

[Karen Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good volume, lots of variety. Individual pieces discussed on my personal blog at A Just Recompense.

[Richard Seltzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hidden gems are strewn throughout this collection. Look carefully.

My favorite stories --
The Master's Castle by Anthony Doerr
The Red One Who Rocks by Aamina Ahmad
Fall River Wife by Peter Orner
The Samples by Kristopher Jansma
Howl Palace by Leigh Newman
The Missing Are Considered Dead by V. V. Ganeshananthan
Laramie Time by Lydia Conklin
Turner's Clouds for Plumly by David Baker
Give My Love to the Savages by Chris Stuck
Freak Corner by John Rolfe Gardiner
It's Not You by Elizabeth McCracken
And above and beyond everything else, the brilliant and inspiring essay
A Beloved Duck Gets Cooked by Lydia Davis

Memorable quotes --

from Freak Corner, about sign language and the deaf
"Were you aware that people can have ideas before they have the words to express them? ... Is eternity on both sides of us?" p. 392
[sign language] "was actually a complete language with a grammar beyond shapes and gesture, hidden in the fourth dimension of timing." p. 396
"... American Sign Language had its own grammar... Gayle's best-known work... circled the globe with a jolt for the word's majority, 'sadly poorer, for the limitations of their spoken languages.'"

from A Beloved Duck Gets Cooked
"A third thing the stories [by Russell Edson] showed me, both the brilliant ones and the faltering ones, was how you could tap some very difficult emotions and let them burst out in an unexpected raw sometimes absurd form -- that perhaps, in fact, setting oneself absurd or impossible subjects made it easier for difficult emotions to come forth." P. 378
"... A good poem is bound to offer you something surprising in the way of language and thinking, even if some of its meaning eludes you." p. 380
"The most pressing question, of course, is one that would take us, if we pursued it, straight into the realm of translation theory and all its intriguing conundrums. Can you say the same thing in radically different ways? If you write it so differently, are you in fact, saying the same thing?" p. 386

[Polly Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this five stars for Leigh Newman's story "Howl Palace" alone. I don't like that in the Table of Contents the name of the journal the piece is from is not included. Nor is there an index in the back to look up a piece by the journal that published it and nominated it.

Many of the stories and essays in this volume didn't grab me. The one by Lydia Davis went right over my head, and yet I know she has a reputation as being a profound essayist. This one might have been my first by her.

[Kathleen Crank · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many wonderful voices. I love this collection.

[Paolo Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of great short stories, including:
- Touch by Poppy Sebag-Montefiore
- Fall River wife by Peter Orner
- The lovely ruralist by Janisse Ray
- Charlie by Colleen O'Brien
- Something Street by Carolyn Ferrell
- Freak Corner by John Rolfe Gardiner