The PEN / O. Henry Prize Stories 2009

Introduction

NINETY YEARS ago, The O. Henry Prize Stories was created by William Sidney Porter s friends and colleagues to honor him and the form in which he wrote.

Since 1919 there have been a few years without the publication of an O. Henry Prize Stories collection, but still, in an industry where many books enjoy the longevity of a mayfly, lasting for ninety years is a superb accomplishment.

Our annual collection is an institution among writers and readers, who look for it each spring. For a writer beginning what might or might not be a career, inclusion is both recognition of the particular story and warm encouragement to keep writing. One of the collection s first stated goals was to stimulate younger authors, but even for writers who have long and distinguished careers, inclusion in The O. Henry Prize Stories is meaningful and even gladdening, as one of this year s authors, John Burnside, said.

The O. Henry s recognition of quality extends to the magazines that publish the prize story. The New Yorker, committed to publishing fiction since its beginning, has a large readership, and a smaller journal such as the New England Review only a fraction of that num ber. What matters in the long run is that a magazine continues to publish excellent fiction in its pages, stories that readers are challenged by and sometimes love.

For its readers, our prize collection is a faithful yet exciting friend. Each spring The O. Henry Prize Stories offers a renewed engagement with the immediacy of the short story. This is what O. Henry s friends and colleagues hoped when they conceived the unique idea of publishing a book annually to draw attention to an outstanding group of short stories and short-story writers.

In the ninetieth year since its founding, the O. Henry Prize differs from its first iteration. Instead of a committee choosing the stories, as in 1919 and for many years following, the series editor does so alone. Since 2002, the criteria for stories

Introduction Laura Furman, Series Editor

Graham Joyce, An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen
Kristen Sundberg Lunstrum, The Nursery
E. V. Slate, Purple Bamboo Park
John Burnside, The Bell Ringer
Mohan Sikka, Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress
L. E. Miller, Kind
Alistair Morgan, Icebergs
Roger Nash, The Camera and the Cobra
Manuel Muñoz, Tell Him about Brother John
Caitlin Horrocks, This Is Not Your City
Ha Jin, The House behind a Weeping Cherry
Paul Theroux, Twenty-two Stories
Judy Troy, The Order of Things
Nadine Gordimer, A Beneficiary
Viet Dinh, Substitutes
Karen Brown, Isabel s Daughter
Marisa Silver, The Visitor
Paul Yoon, And We Will Be Here
Andrew Sean Greer, Darkness
Junot Díaz, Wildwood

Reading The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009
The Jurors on Their Favorites
A. S. Byatt on An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen by Graham Joyce
Anthony Doerr on Wildwood by Junot Díaz
Tim O Brien on An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen by Graham Joyce

Writing The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009
The Writers on Their Work

Recommended Stories 2009
Publications Submitted
Permissions

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.

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