Pushcart Prize editors Books

Over sixty selections of the best poetry, essays, and short fiction have been selected out of thousands of nominations from Pushcart staff contributing editors and hundreds of small presses. The result is an introduction to a literary world that few readers have access to--the world where much of today's significant writing is published.

Now in its twenty-third year, The Pushcart Prize is one of the grand monuments of the American literary scene, yet it never fails to surprise, provoke, and delight readers. The short stories, essays, and poems are selected from literary magazines and small presses across the country, and represent the most exciting and innovative writing in America today. In the best Pushcart tradition, this fascinating volume combines the work of today's luminaries with a host of new talents, creating a wholly original amalgam of diverse voices -- "an anthology of literature to nourish the human spirit" (Milwaukee Journal). The most honored literary series in America, The Pushcart Prize has won the Carey-Thomas Award, has been selected several times as a notable book of the year by the New York Times Book Review, and has been chosen for many Book-of-the-Month Club and QPB selections. Recently, Pushcart Press and its Prize were named among "the most influential in the development of the American book business over the past 125 years" by Publishers Weekly.

“The best small press anthology I’ve seen.” - Lawrence Ferlinghetti“A treasured compilation,“ - Library Journal, Starred Review Not since the days of Hemingway, Pound and Joyce has so much talent been invested in small book presses and little magazines in every part of the country and indeed the world. In order to bring these writers to a wider audience, the Pushcart Prize every year requests that editors from hundreds of presses nominate their year’s best. Nominations are also made by Pushcart’s staff of Contributing Editors, who then assist in the final choice.Pushcart Prize XLII is a celebration of a wide variety of poets, essayists and short story writers from more than 50 presses. As ever, most writers in this edition appear in the series for the first time.The Pushcart Prize has been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics Circle and is acclaimed by writers, readers and reviewers internationally.