Charles Simic
I am always pleased and astonished by The Pushcart Prize.

Billy Collins
America's best fiction, poetry, and essays for over twenty-five years.

Wally Lamb
I am fiercely loyal to and grateful for these editions.

Donna Seaman, Booklist
A vibrant exhibition of adventurous yet meticulously crafted writing.

Book Description
"When the future wants to know about our arts and letters, this is the publication it will turn to."—Sherod Santos

Now approaching its third decade, The Pushcart Prize is one of the grand institutions of the American literary scene, but it never fails to surprise, delight, and provoke readers. The short stories, essays, and poems are selected from literary magazines and small presses across the country, and represent the most exciting and innovative writing in America today. Over two hundred distinguished contributing editors helped pick more than sixty selections reprinted from scores of presses in Pushcart Prize XXIX. An index to the series and lists of hundreds of outstanding presses and authors are also included.

The most honored literary series in America, The Pushcart Prize has been selected several times as a notable book of the year by the New York Times. Pushcart Press and The Pushcart Prize were named among "the most influential in the development of the American book business over the past 125 years" by Publishers Weekly.

The Pushcart Prize XXVII continues as a testament to the flourishing of American literature in our small presses. Edited with the assistance of over 200 distinguished contributing editors—including Philip Levine, Rick Bass, Rosellen Brown, Joyce Carol Oates, Billy Collins, and Stephen Dunn—this edition includes over sixty stories, essays, and poems from scores of little magazines and small presses, both print and online.

As the consolidation of commercial publishers continues, the small presses capture and encourage what is truly lasting and important in our literary culture. For new writers, the small presses are where they will almost always get their start. The Pushcart Prize serves as their inspiration and source book, with listings of hundreds of presses. Among writers discovered in the Pushcart editions are John Irving, Mary Gordon, Rick Moody, and many more.