Iowa Short Fiction Award

The Iowa Short Fiction Award is an annual award given for a first collection of short fiction. It has been described as "a respected prize" by the Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times considered it "among the most prestigious literary prizes America offers."^[1]^[2]

The award was founded by the University of Iowa Press in 1969, and has been continuously presented to a writer of short stories each year since. In 1988, a companion award called the John Simmons Short Fiction Award, named for the original director of the University of Iowa Press, was instituted. Both the Iowa Short Fiction Award and the John Simmons Short Fiction Award are juried through the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and winning books are published by the University of Iowa Press.

Select stories from winning entries are included in The Iowa Award: The Best Stories from Twenty Years and The Iowa Award: The Best Stories, 1991-2000, with selections by American author Frank Conroy.

Winners of the Iowa Short Fiction Award by year

2022: Stories No One Hopes Are About Them by A. J. Bermudez
2021: The Boundaries of Their Dwelling by Blake Sanz^[3]
2020: Father Guards the Sheep by Sari Rosenblatt
2019: Not a Thing to Comfort You by Emily Wortman-Wunder
2018: The Water Diviner and Other Stories by Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer
2017: Outside Is the Ocean by Matthew Lansburgh
2016: November Storm by Robert Oldshue
2015: Night in Erg Chebbi and Other Stories by Edward Hamlin
2014: The Lovers Set Down Their Spoons by Heather A. Slomski
2013: Lungs Full of Noise by Tessa Mellas
2012: Safe As Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino
2011: Power Ballads by Will Boast
2010: The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti by Marilène Phipps-Kettlewell
2009: All That Work and Still No Boys by Kathryn Ma
2008: Invite by Glen Pourciau
2007: Desert Gothic by Don Waters
2006: Things Kept, Things Left Behind by Jim Tomlinson
2005: The Thin Tear in the Fabric of Space by Doug Trevor
2004: What You've Been Missing by Janet Desaulniers
2003: Bring Me Your Saddest Arizona by Ryan Harty
2002: Her Kind of Want by Jennifer S. Davis
2001: Ticket to Minto: Stories of India and America by Sohrab Homi Fracis
2000: Troublemakers by John McNally
1999: House Fires by Nancy Reisman
1998: The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala by Mark Brazaitis
1997: Thank You for Being Concerned and Sensitive by Jim Henry
1996: Hints of His Mortality by David Borofka
1995: May You Live in Interesting Times by Tereze Glück
1994: Igloo Among Palms by Rod Val Moore
1993: Where Love Leaves Us by Renée Manfredi and Macauley's Thumb by Lex Williford
1992: My Body to You by Elizabeth Searle
1991: Traps by Sondra Spatt Olsen
1990: A Hole in the Language by Marly Swick
1989: Lent: The Slow Fast by Starkey Flythe, Jr.
1988: The Long White by Sharon Dilworth
1987: Fruit of the Month by Abby Frucht and Star Game by Lucia Nevai
1986: Eminent Domain by Dan O'Brien and Resurrectionists by Russell Working^[4]
1985: Dancing in the Movies by Robert Boswell
1984: Old Wives' Tales by Susan M. Dodd
1983: Heart Failure by Ivy Goodman
1982: Shiny Objects by Dianne Benedict
1981: The Phototropic Woman by Annabel Thomas
1980: Impossible Appetites by James Fetler
1979: Fly Away Home by Mary Hedin
1978: A Nest of Hooks by Lon Otto
1977: The Women in the Mirror by Pat Carr
1976: The Black Velvet Girl by C.E. Poverman
1975: Harry Belten and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto by Barry Targan
1974: After the First Death There Is No Other by Natalie L. M. Petesch
1973: The Itinerary of Beggars by H. E. Francis
1972: The Burning and Other Stories by Jack Cady
1971: Old Morals, Small Continents, Darker Times by Philip F. O'Connor
1970: The Beach Umbrella by Cyrus Colter

Winners of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award by year

2022: The Woods by Janice Obuchowski
2021: You Never Get It Back by Cara Blue Adams^[5]^[6]
2020: Ancestry by Eileen O'Leary
2019: Happy Like This by Ashley Wurzbacher
2018: The Lightning Jar by Christian Felt
2017: What Counts as Love by Marian Crotty
2016: Of This New World by Allegra Hyde
2015: Excommunicados by Charles Haverty
2014: Mystical Creatures Attack! by Kathleen Founds
2013: If I'd Known You Were Coming by Kate Milliken
2012: Tell Everyone I Said Hi by Chad Simpson
2011: Pulp and Paper by Josh Rolnick
2010: Lester Higata's 20th Century by Barbara Hamby
2009: How to Leave Hialeah: Stories from the Heart of Miami by Jennine Capó Crucet
2008: One Dog Happy by Molly McNett
2007: Whose World Is This? by Lee Montgomery
2006: Permanent Visitors by Kevin Moffett
2005: This Day in History by Anthony Varallo
2004: Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes by Merrill Feitell
2003: American Wives by Beth Helms
2002: The Kind of Things Saints Do by Laura Valeri
2001: Fire Road by Donald Anderson
2000: Articles of Faith by Elizabeth Oness
1999: Out of the Girls' Room and into the Night by Thisbe Nissen
1998: Friendly Fire by Kathryn Chetkovich
1997: Within the Lighted City by Lisa Lenzo
1996: Western Electric by Don Zancanella
1995: Listening to Mozart by Charles Wyatt
1994: The Good Doctor by Susan Onthank Mates
1993: Happiness by Ann Harleman
1992: Imaginary Men by Enid Shomer
1991: The Ant Generator by Elizabeth Harris
1989: Line of Fall by Miles Wilson
1988: The Venus Tree by Michael Pritchett

Guest judges by year

2022: Anthony Marra
2021: Brandon Taylor
2020: Tom Drury
2019: Carmen Maria Machado
2018: Rebecca Lee
2017: Andre Dubus III
2016: Bennett Sims
2015: Karen Russell
2014: Wells Tower
2013: Julie Orringer
2012: Jim Shepard
2011: Yiyun Li
2000: Elizabeth McCracken
1999: Marilynne Robinson
1998: Stuart Dybek
1997: Ann Beattie
1996: Oscar Hijeulos
1995: Ethan Canin
1994: Joy Williams
1993: Francine Prose
1992: James Salter
1991: Marilynne Robinson
1990: Jayne Anne Phillips
1989: Gail Godwin
1988: Robert Stone
1987: Alison Lurie
1986: Tobias Wolff
1985: Tim O'Brien
1984: Frederick Busch
1983: Alice Adams
1982: Raymond Carver
1981: Doris Grumbach
1980: Francine du Plessix Gray
1979: John Gardner
1978: Stanley Elkin
1977: Leonard Michaels
1976: Donald Bathelme
1975: George P. Garrett
1974: William H. Gass
1973: John Hawkes
1972: Joyce Carol Oates
1971: George P. Elliott
1970: Vance Bourjaily and Kurt Vonnegut

References

^ "The Iowa Award: The Best Stories". Scholar Works. 2002. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
^ Bannon, Barbara (April 19, 1987). "In Short: Fiction". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
^ Peynado, Brenda (November 30, 2021). "Stories Anchored in Place, from Japan to the U.S.-Mexican Border". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
^ Zinnes, Harriet (April 26, 1987). "In Short: Fiction". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
^ Ward, Sophie (December 15, 2021). "In Fragments, Debut Stories Render Early Adulthood's Quiet Challenges". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
^ Ricciardelli, Michael (April 8, 2021). "Creative Writing Professor Wins Iowa Short Fiction Award". Seton Hall University. Retrieved 2022-06-27.

External links

[1] "The Iowa Award: The Best Stories". Scholar Works. 2002. Retrieved 2022-06-27.

[2] Bannon, Barbara (April 19, 1987). "In Short: Fiction". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-06-27.

[3] Peynado, Brenda (November 30, 2021). "Stories Anchored in Place, from Japan to the U.S.-Mexican Border". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-05-30.

[4] Zinnes, Harriet (April 26, 1987). "In Short: Fiction". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-06-27.

[5] Ward, Sophie (December 15, 2021). "In Fragments, Debut Stories Render Early Adulthood's Quiet Challenges". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-05-30.

[6] Ricciardelli, Michael (April 8, 2021). "Creative Writing Professor Wins Iowa Short Fiction Award". Seton Hall University. Retrieved 2022-06-27.

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