Our Collection | The Short Story Project

France

Only after a few episodes did I notice him. He was trying to force the door to a rundown house at the corner of a derelict street. He was too far away to pick out his...

The Man in the Yellow Parka

Thierry Horguelin

16 min

Uruguay

One thing is certain: that every day he will be older, further away from the time when he used to be called Bob, with his fair hair hanging over one of his temples, his smile and...

Welcome, Bob

Juan Carlos Onetti

14 min

USA

1982. Without her, for years now, murmur at the defrosting refrigerator, “What?” “Huh?” “Shush now,” as it creaks, aches, groans until the final ice block drops from the ceiling of the freezer like something vanquished. Dream, and...

How to Talk to Your Mother (notes)

Lorrie Moore

11 min

Mexico

Why do I want a life without honor if I already bet everything I had? A. Esparza Oteo A highway can be like the high seas. The sun burning on your face, the fresh cleansing...

Outrage

Álvaro Enrigue

16 min

Cuba|UK

The mouse and I lived on a houseboat anchored near Notre Dame where the Seine curved endlessly like veins around the island heart of Paris. The Mouse was a small woman with thin legs, big breasts,...

The Mouse

Anais Nin

10 min

Czech Republic

Winter breathes its last gasp, leaving mounds of black ice and frozen chunks on the sidewalks. The sun occasionally climbs above the city now, edging across the glassy sky. The curtains here are always shut, except...

A Little Honey

Jáchym Topol

7 min

Spain

One night, after a sultry summer’s day, an old hidalgo of Toledo walked out to take the air by the river’s side, along with his wife, his little boy, his daughter aged sixteen, and a female...

The Force of Blood

Miguel de Cervantes

20 min

UK

August 6th 1983 APRIL 25th 1982, DOWNING STREET: Announcement of the recapture of South Georgia, in the Falkland Islands. Mrs Thatcher: Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of State for Defence has just come over to give me...

The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher

Hilary Mantel

22 min

Italy

They called him Malpelo, which means ‘evil-haired,’ because he had red hair: and he had red hair because he was a bad, malicious boy, with every promise of growing up into a first-rate rascal. And so all...

Rosso Malpello

Giovanni Carmelo Verga

16 min

Chile

“I got a feeling you two are together and you’re keepin’ it a secret”—“No we’re not,” they answer in unison, and it’s the truth: for a little over a month now they’ve been sleeping together, and...

Thank You

Alejandro Zambra

12 min

Argentina

These days we flee, hiding in dark corners, shying away from daylight. But things weren’t always like this. There was a time when they were just pests. The lions first began to appear in public parks,...

Lions

Bef

6 min

Norway

For many years, Bent had had his hair cut by Frank, in Frank’s Salon. From the age of 29, when he settled down in this part of the city, he had gone there, the last Friday...

The Envious Hairdresser

Lars Saabye Christensen

23 min

UK

“All hunting stories are the same,” said Clovis; “just as all Turf stories are the same, and all–” “My hunting story isn’t a bit like any you’ve ever heard,” said the Baroness. “It happened quite a...

Esme

Saki

6 min

Italy

The trains from Bombay to Madras leave from Victoria Station. My guide assured me that a departure from Victoria Station was, of itself, as good as a trip through India, and this was my first reason...

The Trains That Go to Madras

Antonio Tabucchi

13 min

Argentina

He brought him home unexpectedly one night. They’d happened to cross paths at the Carlos Pellegrini station; like in the movies, the two were coming from opposite directions and they bumped into each other. Fate. To...

The Lookout

Alejandra Zina

7 min

Poland

The sand was everywhere. Not just under the miserable bed or in his bowl. It was in his eyes too, the pores of his skin, under his fingernails and in his hair. Sometimes he felt as...

Abulafia

Paweł Huelle

7 min

Uruguay

I have two cousins who live to the east of Salto, Uruguay. They’re grown men now, but when they were twelve years old, after enthusiastic readings of Jules Verne, they decided to embark upon the great...

Wild Honey

Horacio Quiroga

7 min

UK

The small locomotive engine, Number 4, came clanking, stumbling down from Selston—with seven full waggons. It appeared round the corner with loud threats of speed, but the colt that it startled from among the gorse, which...

Odour of Chrysanthemums

D.H. Lawrence

22 min

Chile

Don’t be afraid to cry from behind the camera, but don’t allow your tears to dampen the context, the photographer Nan Baldwin said to her in a room in a poor neighbourhood of Manhattan in 1979....

Mitigation

Kato Ramone

7 min

Canada

After collecting the beer bottles from the bunkhouses at the sawmill, the brothers headed into the forest behind their house to eat wild blackberries, until their bellies were rotten with them and their fingertips were stained...

The Spider in the Jar

Théodora Armstrong

5 min

Israel

The letter that was sent to my uncle came back unopened and someone added a word in blue ink on the envelope: “deceased.” My uncle was an old man. He lived with my aunt in the...

The Letter

Yossel Birstein

11 min

USA

When I try to remember how I ended up spending an entire summer in Samarkand, I am reminded of an anecdote about the folk hero Nasreddin Hoca. Walking along a deserted road one night, the story...

Summer in Samarkand

Elif Batuman

25 min

Bolivia

Seated on a tree trunk, Marcelino draws circles in the sand with his index finger because it would be difficult to draw with his thumb. In fact, his index finger and thumb are the only fingers...

An Imperfect Day

Giovanna Rivero

3 min

Sweden

He had had the pet shop at the same address for thirty years. He had seen budgerigars and lovebirds come and go. Waltzing mice, guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, stick insects and tarantulas. They had all passed...

The Way of Nature

Sara Paborn

27 min