* David Samuel Levinson for his story, “The Dinner Guest”

* Darrin Doyle for his story, “Engagement”

* Craig Santos Perez for his poems, “From All With Ocean Views”

* Sarah Messer for her poems, “Only Sky Animals,” et al.

* Harrison Candelaria Fletcher for his nonfiction piece, “Artifacts”

* Jennifer Baum for her nonfiction piece, “A Different Set of Rules”

Though selection is never easy, we nominate six writers every year for the Pushcart Prize because we believe in the endeavor of keeping the world reading and writing,

markers of both humanity’s intelligence and depth of understanding.

In the inspiring words of publisher Bill Henderson:

“The commercial world informs us that this is an impossible dream. Oligarchs pick our entertainments, our celebrities, our presidents and our wars. We children of the spirit are yesterday’s news, if we ever were news. Yet the Pushcart Prize, the small presses and authors we honor, have flourished. The reason? Spirit will never be quelled, certainly not by big bucks and bluster.”

Congrats to all our nominees and best of luck from Austin, TX.

Image credit: “Istanbul № 8” by Sascha Kohlmann, used under CC BY | Resized from original

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