O. Henry Prize Stories Partners with PEN American Center

In a new partnership with the Pen American Center, the Anchor Books imprint announced that the annual “O. Henry Prize Stories” anthology as the “PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories.”

The collection has been published since 1919. This year’s contest will be judged by A. S. Byatt, Anthony Doerr, and Tim O’Brien, culling winners from thousands of short stories.

Here’s more from the release: “The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 is studded with great writers such as Junot Diaz, Nadine Gordimer, Ha Jin, and Paul Theroux, as well as new voices. The winning stories feature locales as diverse as post-war Vietnam, a retirement community in Cape Town, South Africa, an Egyptian desert village, and a permanently darkened New York City.” (Via NYT)