“To read their stories felt to me the way I suspect other people feel hearing jazz for the first time,” recalls Curtis Sittenfeld of her initial encounter with the Best American Short Stories series. “They were windows into emotions I had and hadn’t had, into other settings and circumstances and observations and relationships.” Decades later, Sittenfeld was met by the same feeling selecting the stories for this year’s edition. The result is a striking and nuanced collection, bringing to life awkward college students, disgraced public figures, raunchy grandparents, and mystical godmothers. To listen to these stories is to experience the transporting joys of discovery and affirmation and to realize that story writing in America continues to flourish.

The Best American Short Stories 2020 includes:

• T. C. Boyle
• Emma Cline
• Mary Gaitskill
• Andrea Lee
• Elizabeth Mc Cracken
• Alejandro Puyana William Pei Shih
• Kevin Wilson
• And others

Full narrators list: Robert Petkoff, Soneela Nankani, Peter Ganim, Curtis Sittenfeld, Kevin T. Collins, Therese Plummer, Robin Miles, Gabra Zackman, Emily Woo Zeller, Tracey Leigh, Priya Ayyar, Rebecca Lowman, Ilyana Kadushin, Suzanne Toren, Cindy Kay, Ramon De Ocampo, Michael Crouch