Lauren Hough may be known for her spar-ready online presence, but in real life she’s pure warmth: years ago, she overheard us talking about the Insider Prize—American Short Fiction’s annual contest for incarcerated writers—at a coffee shop in Austin, and she walked up, and proclaimed, “I want to help!” So, this year, we asked her to be the judge.
This year’s submissions capture the uncertainty, loss, and despair so many of us have experienced in the past two years. But they also capture self-reflection, hope, and a desire to escape to a new world—whether to a post-pandemic future filled with millions or clones, or to a more humane existence for those living within the confines of our criminal justice system.
Though writers often specify which…
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