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
Jeffrey Gibson

In my practice, I have strived to celebrate and uplift Indigenous cultures and allow the complexities of history to merge into new combinations that reconsider narratives, propose counter-narratives, and push against antiquated notions of identity. As I’ve been able to spend more time in my studio during the pandemic, I began looking at older bodies of work and considering them within the context of the current social and political upheaval.

For the design of this issue of Zoetrope: All-Story, I opened up my studio’s image database and my collections of objects and materials. I wanted to pack it all in—to allow it to mix together into an extended collage and let the edges bleed into one another. It’s all related. When I choose an image, a print, a textile, a pattern, someone to photograph, I am working toward building an archive of images and information that dismisses the narrow lane offered to th . . .