2023 Book Prize Winner

Ubulembu and Other Stories

by

J. Eric Smith

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J. Eric Smith’s Ubulembu is a remarkable mix of settings, characters, and time periods that flow effortlessly between ages past and the fraught future. Regardless of the epoch in which readers find themselves, Smith swiftly makes us at home; we become participants in his stories, not mere observers. The collection of sixteen stories is unified by an irreverent freshness delivered in consistently delicious language. Each story was my favorite until I read the next one. Smith has given readers an adventure in the truest sense: there is surprise and reward at every turn. Ubulembu is a distinctive addition to American literature.

-Richard C. McPherson, Final Judge and Author of Man Wanted in Cheyenne

Congrats to our 2023 finalists

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Shortlist

Joan Wilking, After the Fire

Ruyan Meng, The Morgue Keeper

Antonio Elefano, Lolita Rising

Emily Hyland, Divorced Business Partners

J. Eric Smith, Ubulembu and Other Stories

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Longlist​

Paul Hackley, Old Rag

Michelle Ephraim, GREEN WORLD: A Tragicomic Memoir of Love & Shakespeare

Antonio Elefano, Lolita Rising

Hannah Kennedy, The Little Book of Modern Farce

Khanh Ha, An Artist's Legacy

J. Eric Smith, Ubulembu and Other Stories

Ruyan Meng, The Morgue Keeper

Joan Wilking, After the Fire

Lena Zycinsky, Bela

Suzanne Heagy, The Five Time Wife

S. K. Stringer, The Big Belt of Happiness

JoeAnn Hart, Arroyo Circle

R. Simon, Bird, Bone, Blood

Josh Rivera Jiménez, Dinner Party from Hell

Morgan Christie, Oceans Full of Water

Robyn Carter, Impossible Object

Alex Stanley, The Other Night

Ryan Ridge, The Weird Years

Emily Hyland, Divorced Business Partners