Our Collection | The Short Story Project

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

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

USA

42–PIEDMONT. Slow bus to Jack London Square. Maids and old ladies. I sat next to an old blind woman who was reading Braille, her finger gliding across the page, slow and quiet, line after line. It...

A Manual for Cleaning Women

Lucia Berlin

14 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

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

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

USA

Ten candles in a fish stick tell you it’s Gully’s birthday. The birthday girl is the center of attention; she squints into the popping flash cubes. The black cat seems to know every smooth cat pose...

At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom

Amy Hempel

7 min

Peru

Sr. F.R. Montes came home at nine o’clock every night. He lived in a building on Armendáriz Street, in a spacious apartment with large windows and an infinite view of the ocean. Usually, after passing through...

An Archangel Named Gabriel

Alonso Cueto

7 min

Chile

I watched him as he walked, scrutinizing his gait. He had a carefree, insouciant, irresponsible swagger. He didn’t give a damn how long the thing was howling for: minutes, hours, a day or even days. I...

False Alarm

Gonzalo Hernández

5 min

Russia

Now, just like a beast, it’s howling, Now it cries, just like a child. The whole story began, according to the omniscient Aksinya, with Palchikov the clerk, who lived in Shalometyevo, falling in love with the...

The Blizzard

Mikhail Bulgakov

20 min

India

The old Cool Water Well is said never to dry up, but it is now sealed, and serves only as a traffic roundabout. The streets around the well house contain a number of middle-class housing colonies....

The Cool Water Well Junction

Aravind Adiga

14 min

Chile

1. Claudio puts the rolled up tent and the sleeping bags in the rear of my truck. It’s a beautiful day: the sun and a gentle sea breeze augur a pleasant journey. Amparo, my girlfriend, gets...

The Death of a Kangaroo

Juan Pablo Roncone

10 min

USA

Understand Blue Falls, how it got its name, how in dry years, in autumn, water slips over a flat edge, sheer and perfect, a wide liquid sheet reflecting a clear day—blue as an unraveling bolt of...

Six Ways to Jump off a Bridge

Brian Leung

15 min

UK

Going to the shore on the first morning of the vacation, the young English boy stopped at a turning of the path and looked down at a wild and rocky bay, and then over the crowded...

Through the Tunnel

Doris Lessing

15 min

Gaza

He reaches behind him, over the seat, so the passengers next to me in the back of the car can put their fares into his outstretched hand. He carelessly chucks the money down beside him, with...

Red Lights

Talal Abu Shawish

3 min

Serbia

The years have taken their toll: I wake up at night more often, and then, bereft of sleep, I go to the bathroom, perch on the bathtub, and stare at my reflection in the mirror. I...

The Pajamas

David Albahari

6 min

Hungary

He tore open the door, swearing, the dog pressed to his lap. He walked up and down and eventually calmed himself. He propped the dog in its place beside the desk. He poured out some water...

The Dog Lover’s Handbook

László Darvasi

12 min

USA

I woke up shaking, alone in my room. I was clammy cold with sweat; under me the sheet and the mattress were soaked. The sheet was gray and twisted like a rope. I breathed like I...

Previous Condition

James Baldwin

23 min

Argentina

His hand brushes against mine in the darkness. His skin is hot and rough. Short hair, curls combed flat with some amateur pomade that shines even in the penumbra of the movie theatre. His smell insinuates...

Cohiba

Lucía Puenzo

16 min

USA

I met the first man as I was going home from a dance at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall. I was being taken out of the dance by my two good friends. I had forgotten...

Two Men

Denis Johnson

10 min

Germany

I go out in the yard with the dog. Just after two in the morning and the night’s very warm; the summer’s come back again this August after a long cool and rainy stretch. The hottest...

Outside the Door

Clemens Meyer

16 min

Palestine

Kadhim Ali paid no attention to the difficulties he was exposed to on account of his enthusiasm for the Brazilian football player Ronaldo. Kadhim Ali loved football but the people of his neighbourhood did not; they...

Ronaldo’s Seat

Mahmoud Shukair

6 min