The Pushcart Prize XLVI: Best of the Small Presses 2022 Edition

by Bill Henderson (Editor)

Over 60 brilliant stories, poems and essays from ?dozens of small presses, ?as selected from 900 presses worldwide by ?more than ?200 distinguished staff contributing editors.
Series The American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded Pushcart its 2020 recognition for "Distinguished Service to the Arts."

The National Book Critics Circle cited Bill Henderson for its Ivan Sandrof "Lifetime Achievement" award in 2006.

In 2005 Poets &Writers / Barnes and Noble noted Pushcart for their Writers For Writers prize. And in 1978 Publishers Weekly's Carey-Thomas Award went to the Pushcart Prize.

Reviews of last year's

Booklist - "Resplendent...A perennial must have."

Publishers Weekly - "A trove of fine writing."

Kirkus - "Strong and wide ranging."

Library Journal (starred) - "Fascinating ....A must have for all collections."

Genres: Nonfiction, Poetry, Short Stories, Essays

576 pages, Paperback

Published December 7, 2021

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

[Lisa M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A year or two ago I allowed myself the space to make a small list of the writer's goals I felt were obtainable--I didn't let myself dream too big. I wanted to get one Pushcart nom before I died. I had never read the winning collection but knew of the prestige and that the prize supposedly celebrated small presses.

This is my first year actually reading the anthology I aspired to be nominated for. I expected work that was drastically different from the "Best of American..." anthologies--edgy, punk. The cool older sister of the "Best of..." anthologies.

Instead, what I found were many of the same names and quality of material in both. There is some good work in this collection, although none of it feels truly groundbreaking. It feels like what the establishment considers edgy, which I may find boring. Don't get me wrong, the work is well-written, but very little of it excited me.

Outside of one essay which seemed to be included for nepotistic's sake versus actual talent (very common in these anthologies, I find,) the essays here are quite outstanding. Seriously, great non-fiction. Really, really good.

The fiction was fine. People often recommend these anthologies so people can learn about the tastes of the top lit mags. I certainly saw trends with specific publications/what was successful here. Outside of the daily life fiction that has been so popular in indie fiction for quite some time, we get lots of apocalyptic stuff and some slight surreal stuff. All fine, some great. "Let's Play Dead" by Senaa Ahmad was FUCKING INSANE. I don't buy lit mag subscriptions, but I almost did after reading this story. Seriously. I read so much--many lit mags, ones that aren't registered on this account--and this story is INCREDIBLE. Buy this book just for this story!

On to the poetry. I am a poet, I love poetry, I find being a poetry reader on lit mags has really desensitized me and it takes a lot for me to notice a poem. Not many stand out here. Many of them are all solid in that they check the boxes of what good contemporary poetry looks like but very few of them push the line. The one poem about an old white dude and his guilt about being a white dude in BLM times could have been kept out--YIKES.

I will rate this a 5 because I will probably always rate these kinds of anthologies a 5, but this disappointed me overall. I was naive to think this would be any different.

Do I still want a nom? I mean, yeah, that would be cool. But as my writing journey evolves I find I am less concerned with mainstream success and more so with honoring my work and my vision. A defense mechanism for coping with the fact I haven't gotten my reward yet? Maybe.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This was an exceptionally good year for the Pushcart! My favorites:

1. Suffering in Motion by McKenna Marsden
2. Remembering the Alchemists by Richard Hoffman, an essay about guns
3. Reality TV by Michael Kardos
4. Let's Play Dead by Senaa Ahmad
5. Leave No Trace by Daniel Orozco, about memory
6. Housekeeping by Karin Lin-Greenberg, about a Bachelor-like show
7. The Loss of Heaven by Dantiel W. Moniz (which I had read in her collection Milk Blood Heat)
8. Trezzo by Seth Fried (my #1 of the year, a coming-of-age story about experiments and integrity)
9. Night Cows by Jennifer Bowen Hicks, about COVID isolation
10. Suffer Me to Pass by Debra Gwartney, an essay about domestic violence
11. Mark on the Cross by Maria Black
12. The God Phone by Leora Smith (my favorite essay, about a long-running art installation at Burning Man)

And one poem: A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay

[derek allard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read every Pushcart Prize anthology dating back to 2009. This may be the most consistently good one of them all. As usual there are some wow stories. “Let’s Play Dead” by Senaa Ahmad, “Open House” by Jeremiah Moss, and “Leave No Trace” by Daniel Orozco tops that list with Patrick Dacey’s “O Despot! My Despot!” Devon Halliday’s “Recon/Men” Lindsay Stark’s “Baikal” and Cathryn Kludmeier’s “Gutted” all close behind. These are just the wow stories. And there are many of them. Plenty of others-stories, poems, essays-were also starred as good. This edition is a joy to read. The only exception was “My First Blood” by Rebecca Cadenhead, an essay that read like vague and regurgitated talking points from every activist group written by an author who is somehow oblivious to her own privilege as she travels the world. But if having one awful dud means the rest of the collection shines I’ll take it. Fantastic work here.

[Brad Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection that supports small presses. Of course, with the amount of content in this, I can't expect all the fiction, essays, and poetry to be of a subjective five-star standard, but given the breadth and size of this collection I couldn't ask for much more. Just tons of great content that does a great job traversing and expanding the lexicon of contemporary writing.

Favorites include: "The God Phone," - Leora Smith, " Baikal," - Lindsay Starck, "Gutted," - Cathryn Klusmeier, "What I'll miss," - Dennis Held, "Every Poem is My Most Asian Poem" - Chen Chen, and many more.

[Ace Boggess · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poetry in this volume is outstanding. The fiction is better than usual. A lot of work that's not only strong but interesting and sometimes fun. A good year.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great stuff in here.

[Paul Reinstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a choosier reader than most, but I can strongly recommend the stories by K. Lin-Greenberg ("Housekeeping") and Dantiel Moniz, and the memoir by Debra Gwartney ("Suffer Me To Pass").

[Karen Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great year. Too many favorites to list.

Posts on each short story and nonfiction piece available at my personal blog.