Best Debut Short Stories 2021: The PEN America Dau Prize

by Yuka Igarashi (Series Editor), Sarah Lyn Rogers (Editor), Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Selections)

The annual--and essential--collection of the newest voices in short fiction, selected this year by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, and Beth Piatote.

Who are the most promising short story writers working today? Where do we look to discover the future stars of literary fiction? This book will offer a dozen answers to these questions.

The stories collected here represent the most recent winners of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, which recognizes twelve writers who have made outstanding debuts in literary magazines in the previous year. They are chosen by a panel of distinguished judges, themselves innovators of the short story form: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, and Beth Piatote. Each piece comes with an introduction by its original editors, whose commentaries provide valuable insight into what magazines are looking for in their submissions, and showcase the vital work they do to nurture literature's newest voices.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Writing, Anthologies

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 24, 2021

Reviews

[BookOfCinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of 12 debut short stories. Some I LOVED and I cannot stop thinking about and others I found were a little meh.

These are my stand out stories:
Force, Mass, Acceleration by Heather Aruffo
Mandy's Mary Sue by Qianze Zhang
The List by Stanley Patrick Stocker
Transit by Khaddafina Mbabazi

For me the strongest story in this collection is Transit by Khaddafina Mbabazi it literally embodies how I feel as a Black woman travelling. It is nuanced and layered and I shook that the author did so much with such little pages.

Honestly, if you buy this book to read just this story, it is well worth it!

[el · Rating 4 out of 5]

i expect short story anthologies to be absolute ass, with maybe one or two standout gems (because they usually are, especially the arbitrary award-winning ones) so this collection was pleasantly surprising. almost every story selected was above average, even if not to my personal tastes, and so many were gorgeous, illuminating, or otherwise arresting.

favorites favorites favorites:
• “good girls” by lindsay ferguson — 8/10
• “transit” by khaddafiba mbabazi — 8.9/10
• “taxi” by pardeep toor — 9/10
• “the strong-strong winds” by mathapelo mofokeng 8.6/10 (i was very close to cryinggggg)

[Jamie Truax · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of short literary fiction that had unique voices and didn’t swim in the minutiae that some literary stories get caught in. We all love a well crafted sentence, but the story has to be there for me. If I want just a word sandwich I’ll read poetry.

Anyway:
Good Girls-Nice microstory told in one long extended sentence about a narrator longing for her friend in a more serious way.
Maria-nice little story from Amy Haejung about formative years friendships and how they often linger well beyond their actual years.
Transit-Excellent story from Khaddafina about expectation of social class based on geography and race. Really well drawn characters and nuance throughout.
The list-bittersweet story about loss and rebirth.
Mandy’s Mary sue-really cool genre bender by Qianze Zhang about imagination and coming of age in the digital world.
Taxi-unnerving in a good way. Had me thinking about it for days after due to the odd nature of the story.
Salt-good and very sad coming of age story that touches on sexual orientation in Southern California youth culture.
Re: Frankie-Mackenzie Mcgees story told entirely through the emails of an unsettling man in a futuristic world is a major highlight. Thought about it a lot after reading.
The strong strong winds-a good story about loss and the pieces that must be put together by our families.
The math of living-really good short story about expectations, pressure to succeed, and coming of age in two vastly different cultures.
Force, Mass, Acceleration-a very strong historical fiction piece based on war criminal Ratko Mladics daughter Ana. The story was a standout written by Heather Aruffo.
The first time I said it-Isaac Hughes Green story about race and how a racial slur impacted the narrators life at different times was a very strong closer.

Overall, I’d say none of these stories were standouts in a bad way. All were nice additions to the collection.

The standout strong stories for me:
Transit
Taxi
Re: Frankie
Force, Mass, Acceleration
The first time I said it

Will absolutely pick up a copy of the other Debut Short Stories collections from the PEN America Dau Prize.

[Alison Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in a single sitting. Part of it was because the stories are quick and easy to get through. But a bigger reason is that each of these stories is intriguing, and captive, and really well written.

Each author offers a different style of writing, and each author is fresh and interesting.

[twentyventi]

I enjoyed this diverse collection of voices and stories (aside from one story that I didn’t read). There is something so limiting but also so liberating about a short story — being offered only a small glimpse into a world, a moment, and leaving much of the imagination (how did we get here? where will this story go beyond this?) to the reader.

The four stories that stood out most to me were Taxi, Re: Frankie, The Strong-Strong Winds, and The First Time I Said It. I could vividly picture Re: Frankie being adapted into a dark dystopian sci-fi short film or an episode of Black Mirror.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐

Outstanding: Transit by Khaddafina Mbabazi

Excellent:
Taxi by Pardeep Toor
The Strong Strong Winds by Mathapelo Mofokeng
The Math of Living by Nishanth Injam
Frankie by Mckenzie McGee

A very strong collection of short stories, they arrested my attention and held my imagination. It's difficult to believe these are debut authors, I will definitely check out their upcoming full length novels.

Content warning: Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Cadaver and Suicide

[Kentrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good collection of short stories that touch a diversity of topics, including gender, sexuality, race, immigration, technology, and nationalism.

[Imran Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading several collections of short stories written in the last few centuries this anthology of contemporary - can't get more recent than 2021! - was a breath of fresh air.

I enjoyed nearly every story though there were at least two standouts, ie Transit by Khaddafina Mbabazi and The First Time I Said It by Isaac Hughes Green. Both stories dealt subtly yet directly with racism and white privilege in a world where it should have disappeared.

Other than the above two tales, several others made the book a joy to read. The stories dealt with topical issues inna nuanced and sophisticated way. Some had poetic language. Others used grammatical poetic license to help readers towards a preordained destination.

I highly recommend this anthology to anyone who enjoys reading short stories.

[Akemi G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great anthology to find new voices in literature. My favs are:

Transit by Khaddafina Mbabazi
I had not read stories that so eloquently describe racial tension—and this even comes with a sense of suspense and surprise.

The List by Stanley Patrick Stocker
I love the voice of this story. Although it’s about loss, it shines with resilience and natural sense of humor.

Force, Mass, Acceleration by Heather Aruffo
This is about Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic’s daughter Ana, who aspired to be a surgeon but committed suicide at age 23. I’m still processing how men pressure the women in their lives, their loves.

The First Time I Said It by Isaac Hughes Green

Good Girls by Lindsay Ferguson

[Jonathan Josephson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good collection of stories, all were enjoyable. I may be spoiled because I often read the "Best of" books which I realize are selected from a wider pool of writers that could include far more experienced scribes, but there were some real gems in here, particularly impressive as debut fiction. Favorites were “The Math of Living” (originally published in the Virginia Quarterly Review) by Nishanth Injam which stuck with me for days, and the lightening fast read “Good Girls” (posted at Barrelhouse) by Lindsay Ferguson which I loved both for its content and its form.

[BAM · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this book four instead of five stars because I did not like several of the stories. However, this books also contains some real gems. In particular, I would recommend “The List” by Stanley Patrick Stocker, “The First Time I Said It” by Isaac Hughes Green, and, my absolute favorite from this collection, “Force, Mass, Acceleration” by Heather Aruffo. I cannot say enough amazing things about Aruffo’s story!

[Elise a.k.a. PAPERNERD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like short stories, because they are perfect, when you are in-between books...

I have to be honest:
I did not like some of the stories, or they bored me.
And to be nice about it:
I can not tell you, which stories "didn't do the magic" for me - you have to find this out for yourself.

Still:
I would recommend this book, when you are in-between books right now and can't make your mind up, yet.

[Rosie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories were written with varying level of skill, but that makes sense for a book of debut short stories. In fact, I'd say a lot of the pleasure of reading this collection comes from seeing authors at the very beginning of their careers. I especially liked the last story, "The First Time I Said It".

[Julie Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to skip over a few of these stories. It’s difficult to write compelling characters with short stories, and it was hard for me to find characters that I wanted to follow in many of these in this anthology. Many of the stories seem pretentious. And the one that started off with a child watching porn ….. no thanks.

[Allison Reding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyable short story collection with several outstanding stories. Short story collections can sometimes be a slog, especially when they're a single author and all the stories start to run together, but all the stories were distinctive and strong.

My favorites of the collection are Transit, Mandy's Mary Sue, Salt, RE: Frankie, The Math of Living, and The First Time I Said It.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a very enjoyable read! Three stories particularly stood out to me: Transit by Khaddafina Mbabazi, The Strong-Strong Winds by Mathapelo Mofokeng, and The First Time I Said It by Isaac Hughes Green.

[Robin Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent debut fiction in this anthology. My favorite story in the collection was probably "The List" by Stanley Patrick Stocker, but the magic-realist "Re:Frankie" by Mackensie McGee was a piece I won't soon forget. Certainly all stories are from refreshingly new voices.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were a handful of gems in here for sure. Transit, Mandy's Mary Sue, Taxi, and the First Time I Said It stick out very vividly. Overall a solid collection from a group of authors who I'm excited to follow.

[E.R. Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the stories written by these young writers is hard for me to relate to, but many of them were excellent. Short stories are an important part of my reading and if you enjoy them this is a good read.

[Miranda R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing collection! Some of the stories I was totally riveted by, and some only sort of riveted by...meaning that they're all great, there's just a few that are excellent.

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bunch of really interesting and engaging stories. Would recommend.

[derek allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Taxi” but Pardeep Toor is an awesome story. I’m still thinking about it three days later.

[Kirtida Gautam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb collection.

[Jason Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Should be 4.5 stars) I was extremely excited to read this book and I think everyone should give it a chance. There is nothing better than experiencing numerous styles, voices, plots, and energy all within the confines of one book cover.
Personally, there were some stories that weren’t my favorite, however, there were several that made me tear up and sit in quiet reflection.
Salt by Alberto Reyes Morgan was my favorite story in the book because his word choice and subtlety was gorgeous. It also hit close to home (as I am also a queer man who grew up where it was forbidden). The story’s joy mixed with sorrow was beautiful.
The First Time I Said It and Transit would be my honorable mentions. They provided a voice that I think needs a bigger platform. The stories were moments that many white people would just ‘walk by’ or think is ‘no big deal.’ But that isn’t true. These stories are foundational to our friends of color. They have major impact. More people need to read stories like these. More people need to offer platforms to voices like these authors.

Beautiful! Give this book a read!