“Without stories, we cannot live well,” shares guest editor Min Jin Lee, describing how storytelling affects and nurtures readers. The Best American Short Stories 2023 features twenty pieces of short fiction that reflect a world full of fractured relationships, but also wondrous hope. A lifelong friendship may become a casualty of the Russia-Ukraine war. Rejected by his lover, a man seeks to reconcile with his family. Twitter users miraculously muster enough empathy to help a lost cat find a forever home. Enlightening, poignant, and undeniably human, the stories in this anthology bravely confront societal darkness and offer, in Lee’s words, “our emotional truths, restoring our sanity and providing comfort for the days ahead.”

The Best American Short Stories 2023 includes Cherline Bazile • Maya Binyam • Tom Bissell • Taryn Bowe • Da-Lin • Benjamin Ehrlich• Sara Freeman • Lauren Groff • Nathan Harris • Jared Jackson • Sana Krasikov • Danica Li • Ling Ma • Manuel Muñoz • Joanna Pearson • Souvankham Thammavongsa • Kosiso Ugwueze • Corinna Vallianatos • Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi • Esther Yi