It’s that time of year again, when across North America leaves fall from deciduous trees, people gather together indoors to eat more food than they should, and literary journals compile nominations for the Pushcart Press and other important anthologies. We find this to be a tough season: less light, expanding waistlines, and having to choose between the pieces in our issues, which sometimes feels like picking a favorite child. We’re glad that there’s often a second round of nominations for the Pushcart from the contributing editors, and we look forward to sharing those sometime in 2018.
In the meantime, grab another slice of pie and celebrate with the nominees:
For the Pushcart Prize XLIII: Best of the Small Presses:
Steve Almond, “Santi the Fool” (fiction; Issue 13.2)
Katherine Kendig, “The History of Women’s Suffrage” (fiction; Issue 14.1)
Jay Leeming, “I Asked the Man in the White Robe Where He Was From” (poetry; Issue 14.1)
Lee Martin, “The Healing Line” (literary nonfiction; Issue 14.1)
Okwudili Nebeolisa, “He Wasn’t That Scared” (poetry; Issue 13.2)
David O’Connell, “Seeing the famous, our desire for fame” (poetry; Issue 13.2)
For the Best Small Fictions 2018:
Michael Alessi, “A Small, Silent Assurance” (miCRo)
Erin McGraw, “The Tenth Student” (Issue 13.2)
Jolene McIlwain, “Drumming” (miCRo)
Michael Parker, “Sunday in the Blue Law Bible Belt” (Issue 14.1)
Laura Maylene Walter, “Break Apart” (miCRo)
For New Stories from the Midwest:
Michael Byers, “Stone” (Issue 12.2)
Michael Czyzniejewski, “Hot Lettuce” (Issue 12.1)
Lindsey Drager, “The Two-Body Problem” (Issue 14.2)
Katherine Kendig, “The History of Women’s Suffrage” (Issue 14.1)
Leslie Pietrzyk, “How We Leave Home” (Issue 12.2)
Steven Sherrill, from The Minotaur Takes His Own Sweet Time (Issue 13.1)
For the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers:
Katherine Kendig, “The History of Women’s Suffrage” (issue 14.1)
Emily Anderson Ula, “Departure” (issue 14.2)
For The Orison Anthology:
Leila Chatti, “God’s Will” (poetry, Issue 14.2)
Sonja Livingston, “Miracle of the Eyes” (literary nonfiction, Issue 14.2)
Alison Pelegrin, “Our Lady on the Half Shell” (poetry, Issue 14.2)
Brian Tierney, “Morning in Galilee” (poetry, Issue 14.2)
Good luck to all! We’ve got our fingers crossed.
