Short Fiction Competition

Many thanks to all who entered the 2020 Short Fiction Competition. We appreciate the opportunity to read such bright and brilliant new work. From more than 2,200 submissions, guest judge Téa Obreht has announced results.

Spring 2021 Edition

The editors are thrilled to announce the release of the Spring 2021 Edition, designed by the acclaimed artist Jeffrey Gibson, with contributions from Pulitzer Prize-winner Steven Millhauser, PEN/Hemingway Award-winner Tommy Orange, and 2020 Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Competition-winner Deborah Forbes, among others.

Five Questions with Jeffrey Gibson

Why did you accept the invitation to design the Spring 2021 edition of All-Story?
It was an opportunity that I’ve not had previously, and I’m working on a book project for which I’ll be the editor. So I’ve been paying a lot of attention to print material lately, and I thought this would be a perfect chance to have some fun with the format of a publication. 

Notes on Design
Nick Cave

In the house where my wife and I live there is a small room. It is very narrow, with a single window. There is nothing in it. A couple of years ago, by chance I looked inside and saw arranged in the window a pair of little brass pissing-boys I had brought back from Brussels for my twins—one who has since died—and two large, red flowers in a green bottle.

It appeared to have no purpose as the door was always shut and the room was never used. I took a photo of it with my Polaroid app and thought no more about it. I looked again the following week, and the arrangement had changed; there were two ornamental pineapples and two different bottles holding purple flowers.

I took another photo and said nothing to my wife. A week later two identical bottles were added, and the pineapples disappeared. A week later it changed again. This tending of the window has been going on for more than two years now and continues to this day—the arrangements . . .