Each fall, the editors and staff of American Short Fiction host a grand celebration that recognizes literary excellence, extraordinary literary service, and a debut writer from Texas. We had to postpone our party last year because of the pandemic, but we’re so excited to see everyone at last on our new date, April 16, 2022, at a beautiful new venue in Austin’s Pease Park. This year, we'll celebrate and honor literary stars Yiyun Li, Stacey Swann, Danielle Evans, and Meg Kuehn. For full … [Read more...] about On Sale Now: Get Your Tickets to Our 2022 Stars at Night Celebration
Danielle Evans
Issue 72 Editor’s Note
I am thrilled to be putting this issue in your hands. It is, as ever, a collection of singular short stories that celebrate the form and highlight its range, but it is also a gift at the end of a turbulent year—work to get lost in, work to be found in, work that in its celebration of emerging writers, and Black emerging writers in particular, encourages us to imagine everything that is yet to come: all of the chances we’ll have to see more brilliant work by the writers included here, none of … [Read more...] about Issue 72 Editor’s Note
ISSUE 63 – Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Issue
Bret Anthony Johnston, “Half of What Atlee Rouse Knows About Horses” “His daughter’s first horse came from a traveling carnival where children rode him in miserable clockwise circles. He was swaybacked with a patchy coat and split hooves, but Tammy fell for him on the spot, and Atlee made a cash deal with the carnie. A lifetime ago, just outside Robstown, Texas. Atlee managed the stables west of town; Laurel, his wife, taught lessons there. He hadn’t brought the trailer—buying a pony hadn’t … [Read more...] about ISSUE 63 – Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Issue
ASF Celebrates Black Writers
As Black History Month 2020 nears an end, we asked members of our staff compile a list of their favorite short fiction by Black writers. For this list, our scope was broad. After all, while Black History Month has its roots in American history, it's not an exclusively American endeavor. Canada celebrates along with us during February, but in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands, Black History Month is aligned with the start of the school year in October. So, rather than give our … [Read more...] about ASF Celebrates Black Writers
If You Lived Here: An Interview with Danielle Evans
I’m always thinking about place in fiction. I happen to write about a particular place, an Alaska laden with myth and personal and familial history. And I want to know, while reading, how other authors capture the nuances, the sounds, the smells, the senses of a place. What types of spaces do characters occupy, what spaces exist between characters, even spaces between the words on a page? At what moments does an outer landscape become an internal and psychological landscape? There have been … [Read more...] about If You Lived Here: An Interview with Danielle Evans