PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 [Paperback]

Laura Furman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2009 | Series: Pen / O. Henry Prize Stories

A collection of the twenty best contemporary short stories selected by series editor Laura Furman from hundreds of literary magazines, The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 features unforgettable tales in settings as diverse as post-war Vietnam, a luxurious seaside development in Cape Town, an Egyptian desert village, and a permanently darkened New York City. Also included are essays from the eminent jurors on their favorite stories, observations from the winners on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The 90th anniversary edition of this prestigious collection is a must-read for both aspiring writers and devoted short story readers.... This year’s prize winners reflect the increasingly robust, diverse, and international flavor or the genre in general.” —Booklist

“Widely regarded as the nation's most prestigious awards for short fiction.”
—The Atlantic Monthly

“The annual O. Henry Prize Stories provide a barometer of contemporary emotional and political concerns.... Stories that refract our present world.”
—Los Angeles Times

About the Author

Laura Furman's work has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Ploughshares, The Yale Review, and other magazines. She is the founding editor of the highly regarded American Short Fiction (three-time finalist for the American Magazine Award). A professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, she teaches in the graduate James A. Michener Center for writers. She lives in Austin.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307280357
• ISBN-13: 978-0307280350
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Booklist and Kirkus Reviews, May 6, 2009

By 

Better Writer (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 (Paperback)

BOOKLIST REVIEW

The PEN/O.Henry Prize Stories, 2009

Furman, Laura (Editor) May 2009. 464 p. Anchor, paperback, $15.00. (978030780350).

The 90th anniversary edition of this prestigious collection is a must-read for both aspiring writers and devoted short story readers. Selected from among short stories originally written in English and published in an American or Canadian periodical during the past year, this year's prizewinners reflect the increasingly robust, diverse, and international flavor of the genre in general. While familiar literary stalwarts like Paul Theroux ("Twenty-two Stories"), Nadine Gordimer ("A Beneficiary"), Graham Joyce (An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen"), and John Burnside ("The Bell Ringer") are included, the collection is distinguished, as always, by an array of fresh-voiced newcomers such as Caitlin Horrocks ("This Is Not Your City"), L.E. Miller ("Kind"), Manuel Munoz ("Tell Him about Brother John"),and Mohan Sikka ("Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress"). Most illuminating are the authors' own reflections on their stories and incisive essays by jurors A.S. Byatt, Anthony Doerr, and Tim O'Brien on their favorites.

--Margaret Flanagan

KIRKUS REVIEW (March 15, 2009)

Furman, Laura-Ed.THE PEN/O. HENRY PRIZE STORIES 2009

The 90th-anniversary edition of the annual prize awarded in recognition of short stories published in the United States and Canada.Time was, and not so long ago, that the story writers had to be American or Canadian, but the prize has since opened to those writing in English elsewhere. The present collection is broadly multicultural, with a particularly strong showing by Asian and Asian American writers such as Ha Jin, who turns in a smart, fugitive piece about the sex trade; Mohan Sikka, who traverses from light family comedy to bittersweet drama; and Paul Yoon and Viet Dinh, who write, respectively, about the wars in Korea and Vietnam. Indeed, perhaps as a marker of the zeitgeist, many of the pieces touch on war. The strongest of them, selected by two of the three volume judges, Tim O'Brien and A.S. Byatt, opens the book; written by the British novelist Graham Joyce, "An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen" is an attention-getting but never showy blend of rigorous military realism with fantasy--but fantasy of the darkest sort. Says the narrator of that story, who has been to the Falklands, Bosnia and now the Persian Gulf: "War is normal. That's why it's a paid job...You don't argue with the Queen. You form up. Move out. Press on." So it is, and with memorable results. None of the other pieces in the book quite matches the power of "Ordinary Soldier," which Byatt likens to the work of Rudyard Kipling. There is a pleasing mix of familiar and emerging voices, with particularly strong showings by the stately Nadine Gordimer and Junot Díaz and, among the latter group of writers, a sensitive piece by Manuel Muñoz on belonging and longing.A solid collection of interest to general readers but especially to aspiring short-story writers, thanks to the judges' end-of-book notes on their choices.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 2009's collection is not the best ever; some gems, a few duds, October 4, 2009

By 

cs211 "cs211" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 (Paperback)

I was hopeful that this year's O. Henry Prize Stories anthology (which adds the PEN organization to its title and support) would be one of the best ever, since I thoroughly enjoyed the first two stories in the volume. Editor Laura Furman tends to gravitate towards stories of dark themes, which can lead to an anthology with less than mass market appeal, and yet the first two stories were very gripping. Alas, over the course of the volume, I felt there were a few duds that reduced my overall rating to four stars.

Different stories will appeal to different people for different reasons. Here are the stories that appealed most to me:

-- Graham Joyce's "An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen": surprisingly, I agree with two of the three prize jurists, who selected this story as the best in the collection. It hooks and keeps the reader's interest, works on several levels, and progresses at an even pace from well-grounded reality into schizophrenic madness. It's not quite an all-time classic story, but definitely worth reading.

-- Paul Theroux's "Twenty-two Stories": just as the name would suggest, this short story consists of twenty-two roughly one page stories, each of which presents the germ of an idea that an author could elaborate and build upon to create a traditional length short story. The very interesting thing is how well each of these microscopic stories works on a stand-alone basis - think of them as highly concentrated, distilled stories, such as might be told around a campfire.

-- Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum's "The Nursery": a well-disguised horror story about a mother's suffocating love, and how her attempts at protection backfire.

Stories that I thought not worthy of inclusion: Roger Nash's "The Camera and the Cobra", which I thought lacked depth and meaning; L.E. Miller's "Kind", whose main subject is a deeply flawed woman who unfortunately triggered too many negative memories for me; and Manuel Munoz's "Tell Him about Brother John", which to me was the type of dry, dispassionate short story that only an academic reader could appreciate.

As always, I encourage readers to seek out short story anthologies such as the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories and the Best American Short Stories as an ideal way to become exposed to a wide variety of authors and quality fictional writing.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Collection, August 17, 2009

By 

J. A. Bell "she reads xyz" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 (Paperback)

Twenty works of fiction, not one of which disappoints, including "Twenty-two [very short] Stories" by my favorite author, Paul Theroux. Added bonus of three essays by seasoned authors A.S. Byatt, Anthony Doerr, and Tim O'Brien on their favorite stories. Most of the chosen writers also penned insights on their own works and sometimes generously offered tips to writers. There is a comprehensive list of American and Canadian periodicals at the back. Congratulations to the editor, Laura Furman, on choosing, presenting and further strenghtening the art of the short story AND her brief history of the Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories included within.