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 The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' considered it "among the most prestigious literary prizes America offers." The award was founded by the

University of Iowa Press The University of Iowa Press is a university press that is part of the University of Iowa. Established in 1969, thUniversity of Iowa Pressis an academic publisher of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. The UI Press is the only universit ...

in 1969, and has been continuously presented to a writer of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

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 The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...

, 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 * 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 Ryan Harty is an American writer. His first book, '' Bring Me Your Saddest Arizona'', was published in 2003 by University of Iowa Press. He is married to fellow writer Julie Orringer. Overview Harty grew up in Arizona and northern California an ...

* 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 David Borofka is an America novelist and short story writer. He is the author of the short story collection, Hints of His Mortality, which won the Iowa Short Fiction Award in 1996, and the novel, The Island (1997). Borofka has won the Missouri R ...

* 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 Renée Manfredi is an American novelist. Manfredi was co-winner of the 1993 Iowa Short Fiction Award for ''Where Love Leaves Us''. Born in 1962 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she earned a BA at the University of Pittsburgh and a MFA at Indiana Uni ...

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 * 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 Jack Cady (March 20, 1932 – January 14, 2004) was an American author, born in Kentucky. He is known mostly as an award winning writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker ...

* 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 * 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 Chad Simpson (born August 22, 1985) is a former American football Running back. He was originally signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at South Florida and Morgan State. He has also be ...

* 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 Andre Dubus III (born September 11, 1959) is an American novelist and short story writer. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Early life and education Born in Oceanside, California, to Patricia (née Lowe) a ...

* 2016: Bennett Sims * 2015:

Karen Russell Karen Russell (born July 10, 1981) is an American novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel, ''Swamplandia!'', was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 2009 the National Book Foundation named Russell a 5 under 35 honore ...

* 2014:

Wells Tower Wells Tower (born April 14, 1973) is an American writer of short stories, non-fiction, feature films and television. In 2009 he published his first short story collection, ''Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) to ...

* 2013:

Julie Orringer Julie Orringer (born June 12, 1973) is an American writer and lecturer. She attended Cornell University and the Iowa Writer's Workshop, and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. She was born in Miami, Florida and now lives in Brooklyn with ...

* 2012:

Jim Shepard Jim Shepard (born 1956) is an American novelist and short story writer, who teaches creative writing and film at Williams College. Biography Shepard was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He received a B.A. at Trinity College in 1978 and an M ...

* 2011:

Yiyun Li Yiyun Li (born November 4, 1972) is a Chinese-born writer and professor in the United States. Her short stories and novels have won several awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award and Guardian First Book Award for ''A Thousand Years of Good Pra ...

* 2000:

Elizabeth McCracken Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author. She is a recipient of the PEN New England Award. Life and career McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High S ...

* 1999:

Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and t ...

* 1998:

Stuart Dybek Stuart Dybek (born April 10, 1942) is an American writer of fiction and poetry. Biography Dybek, a second-generation Polish American, was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Chicago's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods in the 1950s ...

* 1997:

Ann Beattie Ann Beattie (born September 8, 1947) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has received an award for excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the short story f ...

* 1996: Oscar Hijeulos * 1995:

Ethan Canin Ethan Andrew Canin (born July 19, 1960) is an American author, educator, and physician. He is a member of the faculty of the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. Canin was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while his parents were vacatio ...

* 1994: Joy Williams * 1993:

Francine Prose Francine Prose (born April 1, 1947) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic. She is a visiting professor of literature at Bard College, and was formerly president of PEN American Center. Life and career Born in Brookl ...

* 1992: James Salter * 1991:

* 1990:

Jayne Anne Phillips Jayne Anne Phillips (born July 19, 1952) is an American novelist and short story writer who was born in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia. Education Phillips graduated from West Virginia University, earning a B.A. in 1974, and later g ...

* 1989:

Gail Godwin Gail Godwin (born June 18, 1937) is an American novelist and short story writer. Godwin has written 14 novels, two short story collections, three non-fiction books, and ten libretti. Her primary literary accomplishments are her novels, which have ...

* 1988: Robert Stone * 1987: Alison Lurie * 1986:

Tobias Wolff Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible, T ...

* 1985: Tim O'Brien * 1984:

Frederick Busch Frederick Busch (August 1, 1941 – February 23, 2006) was an American writer, and the author of nearly 30 books including volumes of short stories and novels. Early life Frederick Matthew Busch was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 01, 194 ...

* 1983: Alice Adams * 1982:

Raymond Carver Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He contributed to the revitalization of the American short story during the 1980s. Early life Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mil ...

* 1981: Doris Grumbach * 1980:

Francine du Plessix Gray Francine du Plessix Gray (September 25, 1930 – January 13, 2019), was a French-American Pulitzer Prize–nominated writer and literary critic. Early life and education She was born on September 25, 1930, in Warsaw, Poland, where her father ...

* 1979: John Gardner * 1978:

Stanley Elkin Stanley Lawrence Elkin (May 11, 1930 – May 31, 1995) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. His extravagant, satirical fiction revolves around American consumerism, popular culture, and male-female relationships. Biograp ...

* 1977:

Leonard Michaels Leonard Michaels (January 2, 1933 – May 10, 2003) was an American writer of short stories, novels, and essays. Early life and education Michaels was born in New York City to Jewish parents; his father was born in Poland. He attended New Yor ...

* 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 Vance Nye Bourjaily (September 17, 1922 – August 31, 2010) was an American novelist, playwright, journalist, creative writing teacher, and essayist.T. Rees Shapirofrom ''The Washington Post'', September 4, 2010. Life Bourjaily was born in Cle ...

and

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

References

External links

University of Iowa PressIowa Short Fiction Award
Short story awards Iowa Writers' Workshop Awards established in 1969 1969 establishments in Iowa American fiction awards {{Improve categories, date=June 2022