The anthology The Finest Brief Tales options 20 rigorously chosen and compiled brief tales. The prize takes its title from the American brief story author William Sydney Porter, A.Okay.A, O. Henry greatest identified for the story ‘The Reward of Magi‘.
For the 2025 O. Henry Prize, two Nigerian writers had been chosen for The Finest Brief Tales anthology: Chika Unigwe and Jane Kalu.
Chika Unigwe is Nigerian-born Igbo novelist who writes in English and Dutch. In 2012, she received the Nigeria Prize for Literature for her novel On Black Sisters’ Avenue. She can be the writer of The Center Daughter, Night time Dancer and Higher By no means Than Late. She is the founding father of the Awele Inventive Belief (ACT). Her story Miracle in Lagos Site visitors can now be discovered within the O. Henry Prize anthology.
Jane Kalu research Inventive Writing and Literature on the College of Southern California. Her brief fiction has been featured or is forthcoming in American Brief Fiction, Boston Evaluation, Narrative Journal, The Hopkins Evaluation, Isele Journal, and elsewhere. Jane is a graduate of the MFA program on the College of New Mexico, the place she was the recipient of the Joseph Badal Prize and the Hillerman/McGarrity Prize. Different awards embody residencies and fellowships from Vermont Studio Middle, StoryKnife and American brief fiction. She was additionally a speaker on Inventive Writing Information PHD Utility Webinar which may be discovered right here. Her story Sickled is part of The Finest Brief Tales anthology.
The complete record of the winners of the 2025 O. Henry Prize for Brief Fiction embody:
“The Stackpole Legend,” Wendell Berry
“The Arrow,” Gina Chung
“That Lady,” Addie Citchens
“The Pleasure of a Working Life,” Michael Deagler
“Blackbirds,” Lindsey Drager
“Listening to Aids,” Clyde Edgerton
“Sanrevelle,” Dave Eggers
“Stump of the World,” Madeline ffitch
“Shotgun Calypso,” Indya Finch
“Metropolis Lady,” Alice Hoffman
“Sickled,” Jane Kalu
“The Spit of Him,” Thomas Korsgaard, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken
“Winner,” Ling Ma
“Countdown,” Anthony Marra
“Simply One other Household,” Lori Ostlund
“Mornings on the Ministry,” Ehsaneh Sadr
“Rosaura at Daybreak,” Daniel Saldaña París, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney
“Three Niles,” Zak Salih
“Unusual Fruit,” Yah Yah Scholfield
“Miracle in Lagos Site visitors,” Chika Unigwe
The anthology hits cabinets on September 9, 2025. Congratulations to all of the winners!
