Lori Ostlund

Anne! Thank you! This note made me laugh and made me very happy.

I've got four spots left! Come join us to discuss "Just Another Family" by @loriostlund.bsky.social and many other wonderful short stories (in person or Zoom options are available). bit.ly/3WrL9B2

Thank you, Leslie! What a lovely note to find waiting for me.

One of my favorite mail days of the year! Congratulations to @loriostlund.bsky.social, Madeline Ffitch, Zack Salih, and others included in these pages! I was especially happy to see Jane Kalu’s story “Sickled” from America Short Fiction included, one of my favorites of the past year!

Thanks, Andrew!

Thank you, Mona!

Finding Voice to Give Voice: Q&A with Lori Ostlund – ZYZZYVA The title of Lori Ostlund’s new story collection, Are You Happy? (272 pages; Astra House), suggests the quandary of whether Ostlund is interrogating the

Thank you to Evelyn Ch'ien at @zyzzyvamag.bsky.social for these insightful questions.

Thanks, Jen!

Thank you, Nic!

Thanks, Jennifer! Thanks, Daffy! I love this photo.

A treasure trove of new books to read during Pride Month From novels and short-story collections to genre-defying nonfiction studies, these works capture the range and diversity of LGBTQ life.

Thank you, Washington Post!

"Don’t let ARE YOU HAPPY? pass you by: There’s not a word out of place in these brilliant Midwestern sketches. They’re lonesome, for sure . . . But they’re also hilarious."

Join me and Eric Puchner—whose work I have always loved and that includes his brilliant new novel DREAM STATE—as we converse with Nate Brown for the Greedy Reads Lost Weekend Book Festival in Baltimore this weekend--Sunday, June 1, at 11 am.

Join me in Portland, Maine!

Thank you, Leslie, for interesting and fun questions!

Thanks, Laurie! And thanks for being there last night.

Check out prompts at StoryADay, including my prompt about bathrooms!

Thanks, Midge & Shelby!

Big THANK YOU to Lit Hub for featuring "Clear As Cake," one of the stories in ARE YOU HAPPY?, which is out today!

Thank you to Electric Literature for featuring my story "The Gap Year" and to Kristen Arnett, for taking the time to write this generous introduction in the midst of all the fanfare regarding her brand new novel Stop Me If You've Heard This One. My collection is 8 days from launch!

Let's celebrate all day long!

So looking forward to my book launch on May 6 with @ovillalon.bsky.social, fabulous interviewer and editor of @zyzzyvamag.bsky.social, where two of the stories from ARE YOU HAPPY? first found homes.

So grateful to NER for giving my story such a great first home!

Announcing the Winners of the 2025 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction Last summer, as our guest editor was reading through a hefty box of stories to select his 2025 O. Henry Prize winners, The New York Times announced their list of the one hundred best books of the t…

Congrats to all the winners of the O. Henry Prize! May all your plot twists be good ones!

Here are the winners I found on Bluesky (apologies to anyone I missed):
@loriostlund.bsky.social
@njanekalu.bsky.social
@dsparis.bsky.social
@chikaunigwe.bsky.social

lithub.com/announcing-t...

5. PLEASE, anyone with connections to journalists, human rights activists, anyone who might know a way to help, DM me. Any suggestions are welcome—we don't know what to do. We have been working with this friend for a long time to get them to Canada, and they are so close.

4. Why is this happening? Because the European Union has given Tunisia money to keep the refugees from coming to Europe. Google "Tunisia rounding up refugees" and you will find plenty of stories and videos.

3. Our friend can't sleep or leave the apartment or eat. Their landlord is kind but says if the police come, he doesn't know what he could do to save them.