The New Yorker Story of the Year!

The New Yorker Story of the Year for 2011 is . . .

"Stone Mattress" by Margaret Atwood.

This definitely wasn't my favorite of the year, and I almost didn't include it in the Top Ten (to see the complete list, with links to the commentary and the stories themselves, go here), but it took the top spot by a margin of 3 votes over "Home" by George Saunders. Third place goes to my favorite, "Going for a Beer" by Robert Coover.

Although I don't keep records, I think more votes were cast this year than ever before.

Congratulations to Margaret Atwood!

The New Yorker Story of the Year: The Top Ten

The nominations are closed and it is now time to begin the voting for The New Yorker Story of the Year.

Voting will occur through the poll in the right sidebar of this blog. Votes in the comments section will not be counted. Votes sent to me by email or through some other method will not be counted. Voting will close at midnight on December 31, and I will announce the winner on January 1.

Through a process that combined my own favorites (I did, after all, read all of the stories) and reader nominations, I have determined a list of the Top Ten stories of the year. Several writers this year had multiple stories nominated: Alice Munro, Robert Coover, Ben Marcus, George Saunders. So that they wouldn't be competing against themselves, and to be as inclusive as possible, I allowed only one story per author in the Top Ten.

The Top Ten New Yorker Stories of the Year are (in chronological order):

"The Years of My Birth" by Louise Erdrich (January 10)

"Going for a Beer" by Robert Coover (March 14)

"Clever Girl" by Tessa Hadley (June 6)

"Home" by George Saunders (June 13 & 20)

"Above and Below" by Lauren Groff (June 13 & 20)

"Gravel" by Alice Munro (June 27)

"Homage to Hemingway" by Julian Barnes (July 4)

"What Have You Done?" by Ben Marcus (August 8)

"What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" by Nathan Englander (December 12)

"Stone Mattress" by Margaret Atwood (December 19 & 26)

New Yorker Story of the Year -- Nominations are Open!

Since I began commenting each week on the fiction in the New Yorker, at year's end I have come up with a "Story of the Year." Once again, I will let readers vote from a list of finalists, which I will determine from my own preferences and the nominations of readers.


To see a discussion of last year's winner (Claire Keegan's "Foster"), go HERE.


All you have to do to nominate is to leave a comment here on Perpetual Folly with the name of your choice. I will then compile a list of the top stories and create a poll. All very simple.


Forgot about the stories? No problem. Review them all by browsing through the posts from the whole year: New Yorker 2011.