Selected by editor Mark Anthony Jarman, the 2023 edition of Best Canadian Stories showcases the best Canadian fiction writing published in 2021.

A collection that takes us into a firey near-future and a notorious feminist’s personal past, from a near-drowning to a fake breakdown, through mothers who fail us to crummy jobs, to thieves, to grief, to revenge with a bottle of tabasco sauce. With work by established practitioners alongside that of lesser-known writers, this year’s Best Canadian Stories shows how the short form can evoke the experience of a person on the brink. Including 2023 Metcalf-Rooke Award winner Caroline Adderson, and featuring, in tribute, two stories by the late Steven Heighton, this year’s collection draws together beloved Canadian practitioners of the form and thrilling new voices to continue not only a series, but a legacy in Canadian letters.

Featuring works by:

Caroline Adderson • David Bezmozgis • Jowita Bydlowska • Kate Cayley • Tamas Dobozy • Omar El Akkad • Christine Estima • Naomi Fontaine • Sara Freeman • Steven Heighton • Philip Huynh • David Huebert • Alexandra Mae Jones • Carmelinda Scian

Mark Anthony Jarman is the author of 19 Knives, New Orleans Is Sinking, Dancing Nightly in the Tavern, and the travel book Ireland's Eye. His novel, Salvage King Ya!, is on Amazon.ca's list of 50 Essential Canadian Books and is the number one book on Amazon's list of best hockey fiction.

He has been short-listed for the O. Henry Prize and Best American Essays, he won a Gold National Magazine Award in nonfiction, has twice won the Maclean-Hunter Endowment Award, won the Jack Hodgins Fiction Prize, and has been included in The Journey Prize Anthology and Best Canadian Stories.

He has published recently in Walrus, Canadian Geographic, Hobart, The Barcelona Review, Vrij Nederland, and reviews for The Globe & Mail. He is a graduate of The Iowa Writers' Workshop, a Yaddo fellow, has taught at the University of Victoria, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and now teaches at the University of New Brunswick, where he is fiction editor of The Fiddlehead.

His newest collection of stories, My White Planet, was published in 2008.

Mark Anthony Jarman's profile page

Praise for the Best Canadian Series

“The wide range of writers, forms and themes represented here make it a great jumping-off point for readers who might be interested in Canadian poetry but are unsure about where to start.”
—Globe and Mail

“A superb collection of national thinkers, crackling with insight on the issues of the age.”
—Chatelaine

“The arrival, late in the fall each year, of [this] collection is always cause for fanfare.”
—Quill & Quire

“The legacy for Canadian literature in the Best Canadian Stories series can’t be overstated. For years the collection has been the place to discover Canadian writers.”
—Winnipeg Free Press

“Best Canadian Stories … combines both emerging and established voices for a fascinating glimpse at the most exciting short fiction coming out of this country.”
—Open Book