Pushcart Prize XLI: Best of the Small Presses (2017 Edition)

Welcome to the latest Pushcart Prize collection: 71 selections from 50 presses illustrating the diversity of topics in today's fiction and nonfiction. With a turn of the page, readers are taken from a kitchen table in Minneapolis to a country club neighborhood in Atlanta, and on to a library in Texas. The working poor, the rich, the ambitious, the dedicated, and the uninspired are all represented in the essays, short stories, and poetry. The exceptional quality of writing has earned each author, whether emerging or established, a seat in the Pushcart arena. Doug Crandell's essay "Winter Wheat" chronicles his youth working in his family's fields and the relationship he and his brothers build with Kenny, a new neighbor, who dies in a farming accident. "Dr. J" by Kalpana Narayanan explains the author's experience returning to her parent's home where she and her father each decide to write books. Lisa Taddeo's short story "Forty-Two" introduces the philosophies of a self-described beautiful older woman, Joan, who prefers younger men. Poetry selections include "Hurricane Song" by Cecily Parks, which focuses on love and safety in the forest.