Alejandro Puyana

The Stars at Night 2024

by ASF Editors | January 23, 2025

Please note that this event has passed. Please visit our Stars at Night page for information about this year’s event. Each year, the editors and staff of American Short Fiction host a grand party that recognizes literary excellence, extraordinary literary service, a brilliant new story collection, and a debut writer from Texas. We’re so excited to celebrate with everyone on March 23, 2024, at the Tudor Cottage in Austin’s Pease Park. The Stars at Night is our favorite event of the year … [Read more...] about The Stars at Night 2024

ISSUE 68

by ASF Editors | November 23, 2020

Rebecca Makkai, “Webster’s Last Stand” “Aubrey tried looking up edible cacti online, only to discover that ‘edible’ had been added to the list of restricted search terms, God only knew why. The computer still let her type the word, but then that blasted red-screen error message popped up, the eagle in one corner, the flag in the other, Bigly’s motto stretched across the bottom, and she read the message aloud to Scott, as if he hadn’t seen it before: An excess of false information exists … [Read more...] about ISSUE 68

Read the winners of the 2024 Insider Prize

By ASF Editors

“Memories are a nuisance,” Peter wrote to one of our writers after reading his short story, “but nonetheless they seem to make us who we are, as this story confirms.” This year’s submissions told many stories burdened with memory, but just as many stared bravely into the face of hope, satirized the state of politics, speculated on the future of the world, or else built entirely new worlds to inhabit. In short, the stories written on the inside reflected the stories we wrote this year on the outside. Stories of human toil and dreams and everything in between.

Story Sessions: Percival Everett in Conversation with Roger Reeves

By ASF Editors

Join us 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.

Announcing the winners of the 2024 American Short(er) Fiction Prize

By ASF Editors

We are delighted to announce that Dantiel Moniz has chosen the winners of our 2024 American Short(er) Fiction Contest. Thank you to our judge and to everyone who submitted—it is always inspiring to read your work. Congratulations to the winners!