From Publishers Weekly
The Pushcart Prize spotlights small magazines, the genome of our literary culture. While Partisan Review folded this year, independents such as Threepenny Review, Zoetrope and Tin House (the latter two founded in the '90s) are flourishing. Editor Henderson errs on the side of excess: there are 61 contributions in fiction, essay and poetry. In nonfiction, there are strong personal essays, like Myra Jehlen's "F.P.," the memoir of a friend, which deals with the gruesome last rites of death (dressing the corpse, wheeling the coffin into the crematory, etc.) with an aplomb that habitus of Six Feet Under will appreciate. Rachel Cohen's "Lost Cities," a meditation on two poet/clerks-Pessoa and Cavafy-raises the topic of fame's various scales, and the inspiration of the routine. 2003 might have been a year of war ("The big wars are over/but the small ones never end," as Dorothy Barresi's "Poem to Some of My Recent Purchases" sadly puts it), but the majority of this fiction is still very domestic. However, three stories do address terrorism: "At Five in the Afternoon" by George Steiner (about narco-traffickers), which is too wordy; Paul West's "Idlewild" (about the aftermath of 9/11), which is too oblique; and Ben Fountain III's "Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera," which sets in motion fresher ironies. John Blair, an ornithology grad student, is kidnapped by a Colombian leftist group that, to his dismay, sells out. Perhaps it is a sign of the times that there are few comic stories. An exception is Joan Connor's blackly humorous "What It Is," in which Connor throws a bucket of ice-cold prose over the disastrous tryst of two middle-aged lovers. Hopefully, these selections will tempt readers to go out and sample American small magazines themselves. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
It's true, as Henderson, Pushcart Prize guiding light, editor, and publisher, writes in the introduction to this prestigious literary annual's twenty-eighth incarnation, that small, renegade presses have been the champions and guardians of free expression in a country committed to free speech yet often in danger of losing sight of the significance of that great liberty. All too often, once a publisher is subsumed by a large multinational corporation, editorial decisions are muddied disproportionately by financial concerns, leaving artistic and controversial writers out in the cold until they find their way to more open-minded and less encumbered publishers. The fruits of 42 of these committed, innovative, and farseeing small presses are well represented here. As always in this exciting series, the poetry is outstanding (Elizabeth Spires, Ellen Bass, Lucia Perillo) and the essays superb (Edward Hoagland, Floyd Skloot, Rachel Cohen), but the fiction is particularly strong this time around, with work by Evan Connell, Jonathan Lethem, Susan Straight, Antonya Nelson, and newcomer Mary Luongo. Artistry, wit, and insight: all abound. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Billy Collins
America's best fiction, poetry, and essays for over twenty-five years.

Wally Lamb
I am fiercely loyal to and grateful for these editions.

Donna Seaman, Booklist
A vibrant exhibition of adventurous yet meticulously crafted writing.

Book Description
The Pushcart Prize XXVII continues as a testament to the flourishing of American literature in our small presses. Edited with the assistance of over 200 distinguished contributing editors—including Philip Levine, Rick Bass, Rosellen Brown, Joyce Carol Oates, Billy Collins, and Stephen Dunn—this edition includes over sixty stories, essays, and poems from scores of little magazines and small presses, both print and online. As the consolidation of commercial publishers continues, the small presses capture and encourage what is truly lasting and important in our literary culture. For new writers, the small presses are where they will almost always get their start. The Pushcart Prize serves as their inspiration and source book, with listings of hundreds of presses. Among writers discovered in the Pushcart editions are John Irving, Mary Gordon, Rick Moody, and many more.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This 28th edition of the annual Pushcart Prize -- the most celebrated literary series in America -- is further proof that these days the mainstream of our writing culture is found in small presses scattered around the country, far from the racket of commercial centers. As the variety of selections in Pushcart Prize XXVIII indicates, it is a diverse mainstream, constantly infused by new work from authors with a vision of what is honest and vital in an often flashy and no-account publishing industry. The Pushcart Prize has been declared "a distinguished annual literary event" by The New York Times Book Review, and has received Publishers Weekly's Carey-Thomas Award, plus numerous accolades, rave reviews, and awards over almost three decades. As writer and teacher Frank Conroy remarked: "The Pushcart Prize is indispensable for anyone with an interest in what is really going on in American writing."

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The Pushcart Prize spotlights small magazines, the genome of our literary culture. While Partisan Review folded this year, independents such as Threepenny Review, Zoetrope and Tin House (the latter two founded in the '90s) are flourishing. Editor Henderson errs on the side of excess: there are 61 contributions in fiction, essay and poetry. In nonfiction, there are strong personal essays, like Myra Jehlen's "F.P.," the memoir of a friend, which deals with the gruesome last rites of death (dressing the corpse, wheeling the coffin into the crematory, etc.) with an aplomb that habitu s of Six Feet Under will appreciate. Rachel Cohen's "Lost Cities," a meditation on two poet/clerks-Pessoa and Cavafy-raises the topic of fame's various scales, and the inspiration of the routine. 2003 might have been a year of war ("The big wars are over/but the small ones never end," as Dorothy Barresi's "Poem to Some of My Recent Purchases" sadly puts it), but the majority of this fiction is still very domestic. However, three stories do address terrorism: "At Five in the Afternoon" by George Steiner (about narco-traffickers), which is too wordy; Paul West's "Idlewild" (about the aftermath of 9/11), which is too oblique; and Ben Fountain III's "Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera," which sets in motion fresher ironies. John Blair, an ornithology grad student, is kidnapped by a Colombian leftist group that, to his dismay, sells out. Perhaps it is a sign of the times that there are few comic stories. An exception is Joan Connor's blackly humorous "What It Is," in which Connor throws a bucket of ice-cold prose over the disastrous tryst of two middle-aged lovers. Hopefully, these selections will tempt readers to go out and sample American small magazines themselves. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews