Please join American Short Fiction for a special screening of La Causa, presented by Austin-based novelist Alejandro Puyana, on Sunday, July 26, at 2:45 pm at Austin Film Society. In this 2020 documentary, enter one of the most dangerous facilities in Venezuela, PGV in Caracas, where the only guards stand outside—and inside, prisoners enforce their own code and deliver justice accordingly. You can watch the trailer here. Stay after the film for a special discussion with Alejandro Puyana and … [Read more...] about ASF at the Cinema: Alejandro Puyana presents La Causa
Introducing Our New Insider Prize Director Sergio Muro
We’re thrilled to introduce Sergio Muro, the new director of the Insider Prize, a contest for incarcerated writers in Texas. Sergio takes over from Adam Soto, who has grown the prize into something incredibly meaningful over the last three years, and who, luckily for us, will stay on at ASF as a senior editor. We are so grateful to Adam for his wonderful work and happy that he can now leave it in such capable new hands. Sergio Muro is a fiction writer from Laredo, Texas. He is also on the … [Read more...] about Introducing Our New Insider Prize Director Sergio Muro
The Battlefield of the Imagination
EOY APPEAL We are writing to you at a time of great uncertainty amidst the ongoing cuts to federal arts funding and other threats to artistic and intellectual freedom. Today, we are asking you to consider donating and helping ASF in reaching our $30,000 campaign goal to sustain our work. At an issue launch event for ASF 81 at the Austin Film Society, Coeditor Rebecca Markovits spoke of guest Fernando A. Flores's tenacity and outspokenness about the importance of storytelling, borrowing a … [Read more...] about The Battlefield of the Imagination
The Stars at Night 2025
Join us for American Short Fiction’s grand party, The Stars at Night, on Friday, May 2, 2025, at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum in Austin. This year’s program will honor Joy Williams as the Literary Star for her extraordinary body of work, Carrie R. Moore as the Constellation Star for the story collection Make Your Way Home (Tin House, 2025), Emily Hunt Kivel as the First Star for the debut novel Dwelling (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025), and Leila Green Little as the Community Star … [Read more...] about The Stars at Night 2025
Story Sessions: Percival Everett in Conversation with Roger Reeves
Join ASF for the first installment of Story Sessions, a literary series that brings exceptional authors together for a freewheeling discussion about the power of stories and the ways we share them, on September 27, 2024, at Huston-Tillotson University from 6 – 8:00 p.m. We’re thrilled to welcome the nationally award-winning novelist Percival Everett to the stage alongside the distinguished poet and National Book Award finalist Roger Reeves. This event is free and open to the public and ASL … [Read more...] about Story Sessions: Percival Everett in Conversation with Roger Reeves
Read the winners of the 2023 Insider Prize
Last spring, I approached Nickolas Butler, internationally bestselling author of the novels Shotgun Lovesongs, The Hearts of Men, and Godspeed, to be the judge for this year’s Insider Prize, American Short Fiction’s annual literary award for incarcerated writers in Texas. He’d worked with incarcerated writers in the past, championing their work. His own writing explores the marginalized and forgotten corners of American life. He jumped at the opportunity and provides illuminating commentary on … [Read more...] about Read the winners of the 2023 Insider Prize