"Contains twenty prizewinning stories chosen from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year. Guest editor Lauren Groff has selected an exciting and engaging variety of stories by an international array of both celebrated and emerging writers. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Groff, fascinating observations from the winning writers on what inspired their work, and an extensive and useful directory of magazines and literary websites that publish short fiction"--Page 4 of cover.

"An Anchor Books original 2023"--Title page verso.

Foreword /Jenny Minton Quigley -- Introduction / Lauren Groff -- Office hours / Ling Ma (The Atlantic) -- Man mountain / Catherine Lacey (Astra) -- Me, Rory and Aurora / Jonas Eika, translated from the Danish by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg (Granta) -- The complete / Gabriel Smith (The Drift) -- The haunting of Hajji Hotak / Jamil Jan Kochai (The New Yorker) -- Wisconsin / Lisa Taddeo (The Sewanee Review) -- Ira & the whale / Rachel B. Glaser (The Paris Review) -- The commander's teeth / Naomi Shuyama-Gómez (Michigan Quarterly Review) -- The mad people of Paris / Rodrigo Blanco Calderón, translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead (Southwest Review) -- Snake & submarine / Shelby Kinney-Lang (ZYZZYVA) -- The mother / Jacob M'hango (Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa, Short Story Day Africa and Catalyst Press) -- The hollow / 'Pemi Aguda (Zoetrope) -- Dream man / Cristina Rivera Garza, translated from the Spanish by Francisca González-Arias (Freeman's) -- The locksmith / Grey Wolfe LaJoie (The Threepenny Review) -- After hours at the Acacia Park pool / Kirstin Valdez Quade (American Short Fiction) -- Happy is a doing word / Arinze Ifeakandu (The Kenyon Review) -- Elision / David Ryan (New England Review) -- Xífù / K-Ming Chang (Electric Literature) -- Temporary housing / Kathleen Alcott (Harper's Magazine) -- The Blackhills / Eamon McGuinness (The Stinging Fly) -- The O. Henry Prize winners 2023: the writers on their work.