Writing alum Jessi Jezewska Stevens ’17 has been named a finalist for the 2025 Story Prize for her short story collection Ghost Pains. One of three finalists, Stevens’ work was selected from 107 submissions from 82 unique publishers and imprints.
Now in its 21st year, the Story Prize honors the year’s best short story collection with a $20,000 award and an engraved silver bowl celebrating the achievement. This year’s winner will be announced on March 25 during a livestream event featuring readings and interviews with the finalists. The two runners-up will each receive $5,000.
This year’s finalists were selected by Larry Dark, the prize’s director, and its Founder Julie Lindsey. A panel of three judges, composed of writer and editor Elliott Holt, writer Maurice Carlos Ruffin, and bookseller Lucy Yu, will determine this year’s winner. Past winners of the award have included authors such as Steven Millhauser (CC '65), Tobias Wolff, and Edwidge Danticat.
Released last March from And Other Stories, Ghost Pains is a sprawling, livewire depiction of women living in modern America, a portrait of highs and lows with historical precedent, and a thought-provoking statement for our times.
Writing professor and fellow author Sam Lipsyte was one of several voices in support of the collection, praising the “wonderfully bleak comic swerves, keen observation and fresh syntax,” adding, “The world may be a goner, but short fiction is in good hands.”
The book is Stevens’ debut short story collection, pulling from her work in prestigious periodicals including The Paris Review, Harper's, and Tin House, and following her novels The Exhibition of Persephone Q (FSG, 2020) and The Visitors (And Other Stories, 2022).
Her work has also appeared in outlets including The New Yorker, The Nation, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, and Granta. Stevens’ is based in Geneva, where she covers European culture and climate movements.
