For the last three years, American Short Fiction has sponsored a contest for incarcerated writers in Texas. A group of writers at the Connally Unit, in Kenedy, Texas, came up with the name: The Insider Prize. Each year we get dozens of essays and short stories from men and women in prisons and jails across the state, some handwritten and others produced on typewriters. They tell stories about their lives before prison, about the conditions inside, and about the many places their imaginations … [Read more...] about Announcing the 2020 Winners of the Insider Prize
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Everything Old Is New Again: An Interview With Co-Web Editor Adam Soto
Writer and editor Adam Soto has long been a part of American Short Fiction's editorial team. As one of our assistant editors, he regularly read submission to the journal, wrote copious feedback for authors, and helped determine which stories would ultimately appear in our print edition. So, when we made the decision to bring on another web editor this spring, Adam was a natural choice for the role. This month, he joins our longtime web editor Erin McReynolds as our website's co-editor, and … [Read more...] about Everything Old Is New Again: An Interview With Co-Web Editor Adam Soto
Say Hello to Amanda Faraone, Our New Development & Communications Director
Our little team here at American Short Fiction has just grown by one: this month we're welcoming the wonderful Amanda Faraone on board as our new development and communications director. As a fiction writer, literary programmer, and seasoned communications and development professional, Faraone brings valuable experience to the table, and we're so grateful and excited to have her on our team. I recently emailed Faraone a few questions so that you, too, can get to know her. — Nate Brown: First, … [Read more...] about Say Hello to Amanda Faraone, Our New Development & Communications Director
Further Thoughts on Revision or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the “Beast Christ”
In 2018, I published an essay that collected some of my thoughts about what writers should think about prior to submitting their work to literary journals. That piece was based on a talk I'd given that year at the Muse and the Marketplace conference in Boston. I returned to the Muse in the spring of 2019 and delivered a sequel to that talk, one in which I was able to include a few more thoughts (and expand upon previous ones) on revision. That initial essay was long, maybe too long, but I felt … [Read more...] about Further Thoughts on Revision or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the “Beast Christ”
Bourbon and Milk: On Time
Bourbon and Milk 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, query Giuseppe Taurino at: giuseppe [at] americanshortfiction.org. — This past summer, for the first time in ten years, I didn’t work on a book. I'd been working on one difficult book or another since before I got pregnant with my son—he is nine now—and even the thought of beginning another difficult, … [Read more...] about Bourbon and Milk: On Time
Web Exclusive Interview: Nora Lange
In Nora Lange's flash fiction, “Her Cousin Lena,” Rose records a long-distance phone call with her mother. Their exchange reveals a disconnect that, though often funny, describes the “love and horror” of a certain flavor of mother-daughter relationship. Haunting the conversation is the absent figure of Rose’s cousin, Lena, to whom the mother constantly compares her daughter, and who becomes the axis point of their unaddressed tensions. We chatted recently with Nora about her story and … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Nora Lange