Announcing the Winner of the Short Story Collection Prize

Dzanc Books is pleased to announce the winner of the 2025 Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize: When I Was a Stranger by David Nikki Crouse. In addition to publication by Dzanc in Spring 2027, the prize also comes with a $2,500 advance.

“When I Was a Stranger is a stunning testament to the human condition and to the strangeness that lives within us all,” said Chelsea Gibbons, Dzanc’s Associate Editor and Publicist. “In each of their stories, Crouse expertly puts the reader in a state of psychological disorientation and simultaneously introduces such honest, tangible characters who you can’t help but connect with. You’ll become so enveloped in Crouse’s flawless prose that you won’t see the twist coming, and it will hit you that much harder.”

David Nikki Crouse is an award-winning short story writer with twenty-five years of experience teaching fiction at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Their work has been awarded the Flannery O'Connor Award in Short Fiction, the Mary McCarthy Prize, the Lawrence Prize, the Witness Short Fiction Award, and other prizes. A trans writer, Crouse lives in Seattle, Washington, where they serve as the W. Wilson and Grace M. Pollock Endowed Professor in Creative Writing.

“I’ve long considered Dzanc Books one of the bright lights of independent literary publishing, so I was overjoyed when I heard that my collection was going to find a home there among other titles I’ve read and enjoyed and admired,” Crouse said. “I’m humbled—and more than a little giddy—to have When I was a Stranger among such fine company. Hopefully Dzanc’s readership will enjoy my strange little stories.”

The Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize was created to recognize daring, original, and innovative writing. Dzanc Books is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization not only committed to producing quality literary works but providing creative writing instruction in public schools through the Dzanc Writers-in-Residence program and offering low-cost workshops for aspiring authors. Dzanc Books also runs annual prizes for the novel and nonfiction. For more information on the house, upcoming titles, and other prize winners, please visit www.dzancbooks.org.