The Best American Short Stories 2021

By: Jesmyn Ward - editor, Heidi Pitlor - editor

Narrated by: LIsa Flanagan LIsa Flanagan, Robin Eller, Tre Hall, Katy Tang, Emily Ellet, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Alex Meraz, Adan Rocha, Piper Goodeve, Frankie Maria Corzo, Sterling Sulieman, JD Jackson, Brittany Pressley, Robert Fass, Bahni Turpin

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

A collection of the year’s best stories selected by celebrated two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward

In her introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2021, guest editor Jesmyn Ward says that the best fiction offers the listener a “sense of repair”. The stories in this year’s collection accomplish just that, immersing the listener in powerfully imagined worlds and allowing them to bring some of that power into their own lives. From a stirring portrait of Rodney King’s final days to a surreal video game set in the Middle East, with real consequences, to an indigenous boy’s gripping escape from his captors, this collection renders profoundly empathetic depictions of the variety of human experience. These stories are poignant reminders of the possibilities of fiction: as you sink into world after world, become character after character, as Ward writes, you “forget yourself, and then, upon surfacing, know yourself and others anew."

The Best American Short Stories 2021 includes:

Gabriel Bump • Brandon Hobson • David Means• Jane Pek • Tracey Rose Peyton • George Saunders • Bryan Washington • Kevin Wilson • C Pam Zhang, and others

Performed by Lisa Flanagan, Robin Eller, Tre Hall, Katy Tang, Emily Ellet, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Alex Meraz-Mon, Adan Rocha, Piper Goodeve, Frankie Maria Corzo, Sterling Sulieman, JD Jackson, Brittany Pressley, Robert Fass, Bahni Turpin, Jonathan Davis, Priya Ayyar, Graham Halstead, Michael Crouch, and Catherine Ho

©2021 by HarperCollins Publishers. Introduction © 2021 by Jesmyn Ward (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Fair listen

Good writing, each story more depressing then the last. struggle to finish. Wouldn't recommend if you're looking for an light hearted escape from reality.

Another Great Year of Shorts

I have been reading this series since the 1980s and look forward to the new volume each year.
Although there are only a few GREAT stories in each volume, I have found this series has the best curation of any of the annual short story collections I read. Each volume has 20 of the best American short stories of the year. Audible now has all the volumes since 2019.

RANT: This is a curated collection of American shorts. It is not really a “Best” collection because diversity and inclusion appear to be an important editorial factor. Inclusive curated collections are great but are a different thing from a true “best of” collection.

This year I really liked Escape from Dysphesiac People by Brandon Hobson and Biology by Kevin Wilson. There are four other very good stories along with a dozen or so ranging from OK to Good.

The narration varies but overall good to excellent.

Amazing short stories!

I loved the stories in this book!
Beautiful brilliantly constructed describing human nature and their environment!

Great grouping of stories

This was one of the best collections that I’ve read. All the performers were outstanding.

the voices are not enjoyable to listen to

I had to read this book for school but I opted voice over.

I couldn't stand to listen to the introduction which was mostly about pandemic politics.

I think the stories were good but the voices were at times intolerable.

Clementine, Carmelita, dog I think was a great story but I could hardly stand the narrator, who read every line in a question? kept doing it all the time? and hardly ever stopped.

the native american story was voiced over in such a whispery croak I couldn't finish it.

the story about the Asian girl who had Catholic stigmata was excellent and narrated well.

and the first story sounded really interesting but it seemed to be narrated by a person who was mad he had to do a voiceover.

Some good writing

The stories were all engaging and with interesting characterizations. The writing seemed to be not that interesting or distinguished, though the quality varied story by story. There was a surplus of stories narrated by hyper-introspective depressive individuals. As representatives of that self-absorbed, slightly romanticized genre, these stories held their own, but while reading most of the stories I could not help but think of writers who had written similar stories in previous eras but had done so with more literary skill, and slightly more interesting lives to report on.