by Laura Furman
Polly Rosenwaike, “White Carnations”
I’ve never been a great fan of holidays. The imperative to celebrate feels oppressive to me, likely to inspire melancholy rather than good cheer. After writing a sort of anti–Valentine’s Day story some years ago, I envisioned a collection of stories that would push against the spirit of a year’s worth of holidays, but Mother’s Day is the only other Hallmark-sponsored day I’ve confronted in fiction. “White Carnations” began with a thought jotted down in a notebook about a group of women who come together on Mother’s Day to avoid the familial festivities of others. I turned a draft in to my MFA workshop, received the usual amount of smart but paralyzing feedback, and eventually slogged through the overhaul the story needed. When I started writing it, I was luckier than the characters, and my luck has increased. My mother is alive and well. My one-year-old daughter says “mommy” as vehemently as she says “milk” and “cat” and “go.” I should enjoy Mother’s Day, and yet I’m not prepared to parade around with a corsage pinned to my buttonhole. Though I guess by ending this story with a moment of celebration between two soon-to-be mothers, I’m betraying that I am a bit of a sucker for holidays after all.
Polly Rosenwaike grew up in Philadelphia. Her stories and book reviews have appeared in Indiana Review, River Styx, ZYZZYVA, San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times Book Review, and The Millions, among other publications. “White Carnations” is part of a story collection in progress about pregnancy and new motherhood. Rosenwaike lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and teaches creative writing at Eastern Michigan University.
Asako Serizawa, “The Visitor”
“The Visitor” is part of a collection of interconnected short stories. Designed to explore the consequences of imperialism and war, the stories are thematically and genealogically linked, with each one providing a perspective that the other stories work to contest and fill out. “The Visitor,” which is one mother’s story, has two companion pieces—the husband’s story and the son’s—and they function like panels in a triptych. In this story, the mother assumes all kinds of things about her son (and about her husband, though that only comes to light in the husband’s story) and ends up finding out things she had only suspected in the half-light of her consciousness, things she both wants and doesn’t want confirmed. The son’s story reveals what the mother can never know—what really happened to him—while the husband’s story reveals something his wife could never have guessed, which he keeps a secret, even from himself, until the end of his life.
So, from the start, “The Visitor” had specific requirements and specific parameters, and at the conceptual level the process felt a bit like muddling through a maze shadowed by prickly hedges and a dwindling light, which is to say that it felt both restrictive and vastly complicated, with so few possible paths but so many crooked turns confusing the way. When I finally started writing (my way into the story was the image and concept of the photograph), it felt like writing any other story, which is to say a slow, picky process of endless revision. Looking back, it’s hard to believe how much discipline this little story took, but I suppose it’s fitting. To me, this story is about restraint: the way it can pressure and prey on people’s conflicted desires and competing agendas, and ultimately invite the consequences they fear most.
Asako Serizawa was born in Japan. Her childhood was spent in Singapore, Indonesia, and Tokyo. Her stories have appeared in The Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Hudson Review. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Joan Silber, “Two Opinions”
I’d already written a story about New York anarchists in the 1920s, when the parents in this story were young. I see the beauty and accuracy in anarchism but I’m not really an idealogue by nature, and that not-entirely-comfortable stance probably led to this story. It wasn’t hard to invent a daughter who resists her parents’ certainties and puts her faith in romantic love. In the beginning, I didn’t know how much trouble this tolerance for ambivalence—the habit of holding two opinions—would get her into. As Louise’s feelings about her husband became more mixed, I found myself inventing an ambivalent marriage arrangement for her. I see Louise as someone used to people who live out their beliefs. Her friend keeps telling her she’s a fool, but she’s okay with that. When, in the end, Louise tries to convince us she’s fine, I mostly believe her. I often write about the lure of solitude.
Joan Silber was born in New Jersey. She is the author of six works of fiction, including The Size of the World (finalist for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize), Ideas of Heaven (a finalist for a National Book Award and the Story Prize), and Household Words (winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award). “Two Opinions” is part of her latest collection, Fools. Silber is also the author of The Art of Time in Fiction, a critical study. Her stories have been in two previous O. Henry collections (previously The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories), and she’s received a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as grants from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City.
Lily Tuck, “Pérou”
I did have a Silver Cross Balmoral navy-blue pram and a nurse named Jeanne. Jeanne, my mother, and I went to Peru at the start of World War II. I was a baby then and I don’t remember any of it. However, I have always been fascinated by how Jeanne—a young, simple country girl from Brittany—managed in such a foreign country, so far away from her native France, for five long war years. And why she agreed to leave her family, her home, and go with us—German refugees—in the first place. For me, this remains a mystery, and one I have always wanted to write about, though not necessarily solve. So, I have imagined a story for Jeanne—not a very happy one; the real one, which I do remember, is better. At the end of the war, Jeanne left Peru and went back to France and I lost touch with her. In this story, I try to bring her back.
Lily Tuck was born in Paris. She is the author of five novels: Interviewing Matisse, or The Woman Who Died Standing Up; The Woman Who Walked on Water; Siam, or The Woman Who Shot a Man, a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist; The News from Paraguay, winner of a National Book Award in 2004; and I Married You For Happiness. She has also published the story collection Limbo, and Other Places I Have Lived and a biography, Woman of Rome: A Life of Elsa Morante. Her essay “Group Grief” was included in The Best American Essays 2006. Tuck’s latest work is the collection The House at Belle Fontaine and Other Stories. She lives in New York City.
Publications Submitted
Stories published in American and Canadian magazines are eligible for consideration for inclusion in The O. Henry Prize Stories. Stories must be written originally in the English language. No translations are considered. Sections of novels are not considered. Editors are asked not to nominate individual stories. Stories may not be submitted by agents or writers.
Editors are invited to submit online fiction for consideration, but such submissions must be sent to the address on the next page in the form of a legible hard copy. The publication’s contact information and the date of the story’s publication must accompany the submissions.
Because of production deadlines for the 2014 collection, it is essential that stories reach the series editor by July 1, 2013. If a finished magazine is unavailable before the deadline, magazine editors are welcome to submit scheduled stories in proof or manuscript. Publications received after July 1, 2013, will automatically be considered for The O. Henry Prize Stories 2015.
Please see our Web site, www.ohenryprizestories.com, for more information about submission to The O. Henry Prize Stories.
The address for submission of magazines and hard copy of online fiction is:
Laura Furman, Series Editor, The O. Henry Prize Stories
The University of Texas at Austin
English Department, B5000
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712
The information listed below was up-to-date when The
O. Henry Prize Stories 2013 went to press. Inclusion in this listing does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by The O. Henry Prize Stories or Anchor Books.
580 Split
Mills College
PO Box 9982
Oakland, CA 94613-0982
Stephanie Kreuz, editor
five80split@gmail.com
mills.edu/academics/graduate/eng/about/580_split.php
annual
A Public Space
323 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11217
Anne McPeak, editor
general@apublicspace.org
apublicspace.org
quarterly
AGNI Magazine
Boston University
236 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215
Sven Birkerts, editor
agni@bu.edu
bu.edu/agni
semiannual
Alaska Quarterly Review
University of Alaska Anchorage
3211 Providence Drive
Anchorage, AK 99508
Ronald Spatz, editor
aqr@uaa.alaska.edu
uaa.alaska.edu/aqr
semiannual
Alimentum
PO Box 210028
Nashville, TN 37221
Peter Selgin, editor
editor@alimentumjournal.com
alimentumjournal.com
semiannual
Alligator Juniper
Prescott College
220 Grove Avenue
Prescott, AZ 86301
Skye Anicca, editor
alligatorjuniper@prescott.edu
prescott.edu/alligator_juniper
annual
American Letters & Commentary
Department of English
University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
Anna Rabinowitz, editor
AmerLetters@satx.rr.com
amletters.org
annual
American Literary Review
PO Box 311307
University of North Texas
Denton, TX 76203-1307
Miroslav Penkov and Barbara Rodman, editors
americanliteraryreview@gmail.com
engl.unt.edu/alr
semiannual
American Short Fiction
PO Box 4152
Austin, TX 78765
Adeena Reitberger and Rebecca Markovits, editors
editors@americanshortfiction.org
americanshortfiction.org
triannual
Apalachee Review
PO Box 10469
Tallahassee, FL 32302
Michael Trammell and Jenn Bronson, editors
apalacheereview.org
semiannual
Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies
PO Box 1890
Arkansas State University
State University, AR 72467
Janelle Collins, editor
arkansasreview@astate.edu
altweb.astate.edu/arkreview
triannual
Armchair/Shotgun
377 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11238-4393
Aaron Reuben, editor
info@armchairshotgun.com
armchairshotgun.wordpress.com
semiannual
Arroyo Literary Review
Department of English, MB 2579
California State University, East Bay
25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard
Hayward, CA 94542
Christopher Morgan, editor
arroyoliteraryreview@gmail.com
arroyoliteraryreview.com
annual
Artichoke Haircut
Melissa Streat, editor
artichokehaircut.com
semiannual
At Length
716 West Cornwallis Road
Durham, NC 27707
Jonathan Farmer, editor
editors@atlengthmag.com
atlengthmag.com
bimonthly
Bat City Review
Department of English
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station B5000
Austin, TX 78712
Jeff Bruemmer, editor
fiction@batcityreview.com
batcityreview.com
annual
Belles Lettres: A Literary Review
The Center for the Humanities
Washington University in St. Louis
Campus Box 1202
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
Gerald Early, editor
cenhum@artsci.wustl.edu
cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu/publications/belles_lettres
bimonthly
Bellevue Literary Review
NYU Langone Medical Center
Department of Medicine
550 First Avenue, OBV-612
New York, NY 10016
Ronna Wineberg, JD, editor
info@BLReview.org
BLReview.org
semiannual
Black Warrior Review
PO Box 862936
Tuscaloosa, AL 35486
Jake Kinstler, editor
blackwarriorreview@gmail.com
bwr.ua.edu
semiannual
Bluestem
English Department
600 Lincoln Avenue
Eastern Illinois University
Charleston, IL 61920
Olga Abella, editor
editor@bluestemmagazine.com
bluestemmagazine.com
annual
BOMB Magazine
80 Hanson Place
Suite 703
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Betsy Sussler, editor
generalinquiries@bombsite.com
bombsite.com
quarterly
bosque (the magazine)
Lynn C. Miller and Lisa Lenard-Cook, editors
admin@abqwriterscoop.com
abqwriterscoop.com
annual
Boston Review
PO Box 425786
Cambridge, MA 02142
Deborah Chasman and Joshua Cohen, editors
review@bostonreview.net
bostonreview.net
published six times per year
Boulevard Magazine
6614 Clayton Road, Box 325
Richmond Heights, MO 63117
Richard Burgin, editor
jessicarogen@boulevardmagazine.org
boulevardmagazine.org
triannual
Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers
Publishing Office
341 Newton Turnpike
Wilton, CT 06897
Marcelle Soviero, editor
editorial@brainchildmag.com
brainchildmag.com
quarterly
Cairn: St. Andrews Review
CAIRN Editors
St. Andrews College Press
1700 Dogwood Mile
Laurinburg, NC 28352
press@sapc.edu
sapc.edu/sapress/carin.php
Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women
PO Box B
Corvallis, OR 97339
Rebecca Olson, editor
editor@calyxpress.org
calyxpress.org
semiannual
Camera Obscura
c/o Sfumato Press
PO Box 2356
Addison, TX 75001
M. E. Parker, editor
editor@obsc
urajournal.com
obscurajournal.com
semiannual
Carve Magazine
PO Box 701510
Dallas, TX 75370
Matthew Limpede, editor
managingeditor@carvezine.com
carvezine.com
quarterly
Chicago Review
Taft House
935 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Joel Calahan and Michael Hansen, editors
chicago-review@uchicago.edu
humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/review
triannual
Cimarron Review
Oklahoma State University
English Department
205 Morrill Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
Toni Graham, editor
cimarronreview@okstate.edu
cimarronreview.com
quarterly
Colorado Review
9105 Campus Delivery
Department of English
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-9105
Stephanie G’Schwind, editor
creview@colostate.edu
coloradoreview.colostate.edu
triannual