#21 Pushcart Prize

Book excerpt: The most honored literary series in America begins its third decade of continuous publication. Reviewing last year's edition of The Pushcart Prize, Booklist commented, "If you buy one 'best of' anthology this year, make it the Pushcart Prize." The Chicago Tribune recently raved: "When it comes to contemporary American literature, the small press is where the action is . . . of all anthologies, Pushcart's is the most rewarding to read straight through." In Pushcart Prize XXI, over sixty selections of short stories, essays, and poetry have been picked from thousands of nominations by Pushcart Press staff, contributing editors, and hundreds of small presses. This year Patricia Strachan and William Matthews served as poetry editors. The result is an introduction to a literary world that few readers have access to, where much of today's important new writing is published, far from the commercial influence of the conglomerates. The Pushcart Prize has been chosen for two Book-of-the-Month Club QPBC selections, named many times as "an outstanding book of the year" by the New York Times Book Review, and honored with Publishers Weekly's Carey-Thomas Award.