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American Short Fiction

Publishing exquisite fiction since 1991.

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Elizabeth McCracken

The Get-Go

Elizabeth McCracken
The Get-Go

Sadie’s mother was tall and narrow, with a long braid down her back, black when Sadie was very little, then silvery, then silver, an instrument to measure time, an atomic clock. Her father had been tall, too, both he and the mother the tallest members of short families. In photographs and at reunions, they loomed. Everyone was happy when they had a short child: they’d decided to fit in after all. Sadie was small and plump and blonde, and when she was nine, her father died, and it was just the … [Read more...] about The Get-Go

What Doesn’t Kill You: An Interview with Sabrina Orah Mark

Jana Horn
What Doesn’t Kill You: An Interview with Sabrina Orah Mark

Poet Sabrina Orah Mark is the author of Wild Milk, a collection of surreal short stories that marks her debut in fiction. Wild Milk has been called a "necessary book for our perilous age" by Kirkus and a collection of "tales to wake you up at last" by author Edward Carey. Though short, these stories are deep as the ocean blue. You can drown or swim in them (and enjoy yourself either way). I recently spoke with Orah Mark, who opened up about where some of her wilder ideas come from, how she … [Read more...] about What Doesn’t Kill You: An Interview with Sabrina Orah Mark

The Stars at Night 2018: A Celebration of Writing and Community

The Editors
The Stars at Night 2018: A Celebration of Writing and Community

[Please note: this event has passed. Keep your eyes on our website for information about the Stars at Night 2020!] Join us on Thursday, October 11th, for The Stars at Night 2018, a bright Texas evening of songwriting, honky-tonk, and literary splendor. Come for the live country music and readings, and stay for the open bar, delicious food, silent auction, and the historic charm of Mercury Hall, complete with beautiful gardens and rambling live oaks on a bright starry lawn. The evening will … [Read more...] about The Stars at Night 2018: A Celebration of Writing and Community

Bourbon and Milk: When the Mayhem Becomes Too Much

Bourbon and Milk: When the Mayhem Becomes Too Much

Bourbon and Milk is an ongoing series that dives into the perplexing spaces parenting sometimes pushes us, and explores the unexpected ways writers may grow in them. If you’re interested in joining the conversation or contributing a Bourbon and Milk post, query Giuseppe Taurino at: giuseppe [at] americanshortfiction.org. — Welcome to the third annual holiday edition of Bourbon and Milk. Once again, with a nod towards the thankfulness many of us associate with the holidays—a thankfulness … [Read more...] about Bourbon and Milk: When the Mayhem Becomes Too Much

ASF & Lit Crawl Present: Whose Line Is it Anyway?

ASF & Lit Crawl Present: Whose Line Is it Anyway?

American Short Fiction is excited to join Lit Crawl Austin to present our second installment of "Whose Line Is it Anyway?"— a hilarious and highbrow night of literature, guessing games, and other foolish fun. Join us at Wonderland Austin with brilliant and charming Texas Book Festival authors Elizabeth McCracken, Lauren Groff, Alexandra Kleeman, Benjamin Markovits, and Skip Horack, drink a draft cocktail, and watch these writers blindly guess which of them is the writer of the sentences we … [Read more...] about ASF & Lit Crawl Present: Whose Line Is it Anyway?

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Issue 83
Issue 83
  • Baba Ademoroti
  • Kyle Alderdice
  • Manuel Gonzales
  • Nic Guo
  • Simon Han
  • Ammi Keller
  • Mathilde Merouani
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News

The 2025 Halifax Prize Winners We are thrilled to announce the winners of this year's Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize, judged by Eric Puchner. We consider it our privilege to have spent time with so many terrific submissions—thank you for giving us the opportunity to read your work. Congratulations to the winners!
Read the Winners of the 2025 Insider Prize Whose voices are these, I wonder each fall as submissions for the Insider Prize begin accumulating in my office. Four years on as director of Texas’s annual literary award for incarcerated writers, some of the names written across the bloated white and manila envelopes have grown familiar—essayists, short story writers, and the places they are relegated to calling “home”.  
Announcing the Winners of the 2025 American Short(er) Fiction Prize We are delighted to announce that Tony Tulathimutte has chosen the winners of our 2025 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!

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MFA for All Spring 2026: “Bodies in Space, Bodies in Place” with Katie Kitamura is still open. Register now!

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