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Lori Ostlund

ロリ・オストランド

Lori Ostlund

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1965-03-13 （a small town in central Minnesota, United States）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
New Mexico, United States → Spain → Malaysia → North Carolina, United States → California, United States → San Francisco, California, United States

Career

Occupations
short story writer, novelist, editor, ESL teacher
Active Years
1990-

Education

Minnesota State University Moorhead
Country: United States
University of New Mexico
Degree: M.A.
Country: United States
Holds an M.A.

Awards

California Book Award (First Fiction)
2009
Work: The Bigness of the World
Category: First Fiction
Organization: Commonwealth Club of California
Result: 受賞
Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction
Work: The Bigness of the World
Organization: University of Georgia Press (Flannery O'Connor Award)
Result: 受賞
Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award
Category: Fiction
Organization: Rona Jaffe Foundation
Result: 受賞
Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction
2010
Organization: Publishing Triangle
Result: 受賞
O. Henry Award
Organization: O. Henry Award
Result: 受賞
Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (Longlisted)
Organization: Frank O'Connor Award organizers
Result: ロングリスト
Lambda Literary Award (LGBT Debut Fiction)
2010
Category: Lesbian Debut Fiction
Organization: Lambda Literary
Result: ファイナリスト
William Saroyan International Prize for Writing (Shortlisted)
Organization: William Saroyan Prize organizers
Result: ショートリスト
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
2015
Work: After the Parade
Organization: Center for Fiction
Result: ファイナリスト
Ferro-Grumley Award
2016
Organization: Ferro-Grumley Award organizers
Result: ファイナリスト
Simpson Family Literary Prize (Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize)
2017
Organization: Simpson Family Literary Prize organizers
Result: ショートリスト

Awards & Nominations

O. Henry Award 1 appearances
  1. Edition 103 (2025) Winner
    Work: Just Another Family

    "Just Another Family" is a short story selected for the O. Henry Prize 2025 anthology. In a compact sequence of scenes, it captures shifts in relationships and emotional tension.

    A sharp short story included in the O. Henry Prize 2025 anthology.

    short storyrelationshipsemotional tension

Works

Major Works

The Bigness of the World

2009 Short story collection

A collection of short stories that examines displacement, family, and loneliness. Noted for delicate psychological portraits and close observation of everyday detail.

lonelinessfamilytravel and displacementidentity

After the Parade

2015 Novel

A novel exploring memory, friendship, and the interplay of past and present in people's lives. Investigates personal change through nuanced character relationships.

memoryfriendshipresiliencefamily history

Are You Happy?

2025 Short story collection

A recent collection of short stories, including pieces that question human relationships and the conditions of happiness.

happinessinterpersonal relationshipsfragments of everyday life

Bibliography

  • The Bigness of the World (short story collection, 2009)
  • After the Parade (novel, 2015)
  • Are You Happy? (short story collection, 2025)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
delicate, observational proserealist depictionfocus on characters' interior lives
Recurring Motifs
family and its complexitiesmovement/displacementloneliness and belongingsmall everyday events

Legacy

Recognized as an important contemporary short fiction writer. A winner and later series editor of the Flannery O'Connor Award, she has made significant contributions to the short story form.

Trivia

  • Reportedly raised in a town of about 400 people in central Minnesota (citation needed).
  • Partner is writer Anne Raeff; they met in New Mexico in 1989 and have lived in San Francisco since 2005.
  • Story "All Boy" was selected for The Best American Short Stories 2010.
  • Winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and, since 2023, has served as the series editor for the prize.