Lori Ostlund
@loriostlund.bsky.social
BASS 2024; ARE YOU HAPPY? (Forthcoming: Astra House 2025); Flannery O'Connor AWARD Series Editor; AFTER THE PARADE (Scribner) & THE BIGNESS OF THE WORLD (Flannery O'Connor Award); Barbara Deming Board Member; cats; San Francisco. 🌈 https://www.loriostlund
Reposted by Lori Ostlund
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
October 15, 2025 at 10:23 PM
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
Reposted by Lori Ostlund
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!
September 10, 2025 at 10:29 PM
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!
Thank you to Evelyn Ch'ien at @zyzzyvamag.bsky.social for these insightful questions.
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
www.zyzzyva.org
June 17, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Thank you to Evelyn Ch'ien at @zyzzyvamag.bsky.social for these insightful questions.
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."
"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."
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.
www.washingtonpost.com
June 5, 2025 at 6:00 PM
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."
"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.
May 29, 2025 at 12:24 PM
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!
Join is welcoming @loriostlund.bsky.social here to discuss ARE YOU HAPPY? with Christine Murphy on Tuesday, June 10 at 7pm right here at Print!
May 29, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Join me in Portland, Maine!
Thank you, Leslie, for interesting and fun questions!
TBR: @loriostlund.bsky.social's new collection of stories that
And one was included in both BASS & O. Henry!
www.workinprogressinprogress.com/2025/05/tbr-...
And one was included in both BASS & O. Henry!
www.workinprogressinprogress.com/2025/05/tbr-...
TBR: ARE YOU HAPPY? by Lori Ostlund
www.workinprogressinprogress.com
May 13, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Thank you, Leslie, for interesting and fun questions!
Check out prompts at StoryADay, including my prompt about bathrooms!
It's a new week at StoryADay May! Come on over! Write one story or write all month. This week, I have writing prompts for you from @lanidianerich.com @sashabrown.bsky.social @loriostlund.bsky.social, Allegra Hyde, @paperoctopus.bsky.social, & @slashnburnett.bsky.social at storyaday.org/blog
May 8, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Check out prompts at StoryADay, including my prompt about bathrooms!
Thanks, Midge & Shelby!
Happy book launch week to
@loriostlund.bsky.social ! Shelby and I are so excited to read ARE YOU HAPPY? She knows if Oscar loves it so will she.
@loriostlund.bsky.social ! Shelby and I are so excited to read ARE YOU HAPPY? She knows if Oscar loves it so will she.
May 8, 2025 at 6:07 PM
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!
“I liked Marvin Helgarson. He was tall, not just everyday tall but tall even by Minnesota standards, though that’s not why I liked him.” Read from @loriostlund.bsky.social’s new story collection, Are You Happy?
“Clear as Cake”
Marvin Helgarson smoked a pipe. When he listened to us, he nipped at the pipe—pah, pah, pah—the way that people who smoke pipes do, and when he told us things about our writing, he jabbed the pipe …
buff.ly
May 6, 2025 at 10:01 PM
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!
A story about a couple falling in love, becoming parents together, and coping in the face of unimaginable loss by Lori Ostlund (@loriostlund.bsky.social), recommended by Kristen Arnett (@kristenarnett.bsky.social). buff.ly/CDQFBMb
A Life That Fractures in the Gaps of Her Control - Electric Literature
“The Gap Year” from ARE YOU HAPPY? by Lori Ostlund, recommended by Kristen Arnett
buff.ly
April 28, 2025 at 3:51 PM
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!
April 26, 2025 at 3:41 PM
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.
April 24, 2025 at 1:09 AM
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!
New England Review contributor Lori Ostlund has won a 2025 O. Henry Prize for her story "Just Another Family" from issue 44.3.
Congrats, @loriostlund.bsky.social!
lithub.com/announcing-t...
Congrats, @loriostlund.bsky.social!
lithub.com/announcing-t...
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…
lithub.com
April 21, 2025 at 6:02 PM
So grateful to NER for giving my story such a great first home!
Reposted by Lori Ostlund
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...
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...
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…
lithub.com
April 21, 2025 at 3:46 PM
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...
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...
1. Every morning, the first thing my wife does is check her texts to make sure that there is something—some word—from our friend, a refugee who is living in terror in Tunisia, where they are once again picking up Sub-Saharan refugees and dumping them in the desert to die or be sold to traffickers.
April 1, 2025 at 11:19 PM
1. Every morning, the first thing my wife does is check her texts to make sure that there is something—some word—from our friend, a refugee who is living in terror in Tunisia, where they are once again picking up Sub-Saharan refugees and dumping them in the desert to die or be sold to traffickers.
Reposted by Lori Ostlund
American caregivers miss as many as 126 million workdays each year, far too many of them unpaid, to care for themselves and their families during illnesses.
nyer.cm/lo1juR4
nyer.cm/lo1juR4
April 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
American caregivers miss as many as 126 million workdays each year, far too many of them unpaid, to care for themselves and their families during illnesses.
nyer.cm/lo1juR4
nyer.cm/lo1juR4
I asked the screening judges for the FOC Prize: What are 2 or 3 things that really grab you about a short story?
April 1, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I asked the screening judges for the FOC Prize: What are 2 or 3 things that really grab you about a short story?
Today, the FLANNERY O'CONNOR AWARD FOR SHORT FICTION officially opens for submissions! Link below to guidelines, my statement/advice sheet, & bios of our great screening judges: @shanders.bsky.social, Stacie Shannon Denetsosie, Iheoma Nwachukwu, @carolrohspaulding.bsky.social @rachh.bsky.social
Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction - Georgia Press
ugapress.org
April 1, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Today, the FLANNERY O'CONNOR AWARD FOR SHORT FICTION officially opens for submissions! Link below to guidelines, my statement/advice sheet, & bios of our great screening judges: @shanders.bsky.social, Stacie Shannon Denetsosie, Iheoma Nwachukwu, @carolrohspaulding.bsky.social @rachh.bsky.social
Seeing, supporting, celebrating!
March 31, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Seeing, supporting, celebrating!
The countdown to May 6—launch day for ARE YOU HAPPY?—begins...
March 31, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The countdown to May 6—launch day for ARE YOU HAPPY?—begins...
Join us this Saturday, San Francisco! Or find a HANDS OFF protest in your city.
Show them what democracy looks like with ISF and 50501 on Saturday April 5, 1 PM at Civic Center. HANDS OFF OUR COMMUNITY! Run Trump, Elon and the robber barons out of town. buff.ly/byb5OHq
#USPol #SFPol
#USPol #SFPol
March 31, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Join us this Saturday, San Francisco! Or find a HANDS OFF protest in your city.
AWPers: I will talk to 4 writers who have served as screening judges for the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction about gleaned insights. Michael Wang, @jennyshank.bsky.social, Hasanthika Sirisena, & @toniannj.bsky.social on Fri, 3/28 at 1:45 in Rm 404AB, Level 2, Conv. Ctr. Description below
March 25, 2025 at 2:56 PM
AWPers: I will talk to 4 writers who have served as screening judges for the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction about gleaned insights. Michael Wang, @jennyshank.bsky.social, Hasanthika Sirisena, & @toniannj.bsky.social on Fri, 3/28 at 1:45 in Rm 404AB, Level 2, Conv. Ctr. Description below
I am so excited to announce this year's screening judges for the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction! Check out their story collections & prepare to submit your own: Apr 1 - May 31. Stacie Shannon Denetsosie, @shanders.bsky.social, Iheoma Nwachukwu, @carolrohspaulding.bsky.social, Rachel Hall.
2025 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction Judges - Georgia Press
ugapress.org
March 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
I am so excited to announce this year's screening judges for the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction! Check out their story collections & prepare to submit your own: Apr 1 - May 31. Stacie Shannon Denetsosie, @shanders.bsky.social, Iheoma Nwachukwu, @carolrohspaulding.bsky.social, Rachel Hall.