The idea of an annual anthology of Best New Writing arose quite naturally from our recognition that amid the various annual volumes being issued to recognize what is judged by various people to be “the best of the best” published during any given year, there has been no explicit place to honor the best previously unpublished writing. Our aim is to bring these outstanding writers out of anonymity and share their work with the general public. Author Christopher Klim is the creator and former executive editor (2007-2015) of Best New Writing. Our final issue was published in 2018.

Meet the Staff

The staff of Best New Writing—who include distinguished writers, editors, publishers, translators, all committed to the importance of literature for our culture—seek the best writing available from among the many excellent writers at work today from all over the world. These BNW editors determine the recipient of the annual The Eric Hoffer Award for short prose.

Managing Editor Brittany Fonte holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction). She has published three books: Buddha in My Belly (a prose poetry collection), Fighting Gravity (a YA book), and A.K.A. Charming (adult fiction). She, also, edited the Lambda Literary Finalist (2014) Flicker and Spark: A Contemporary Queer Spoken Word and Poetry Anthology. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals.

Editor Matt Ryan lives in Minnesota with his wife and two children. When he's not editing for Best New Writing and teaching English at Concordia University St. Paul, he's working on his own fiction. His book of poetry, prose, and flash fiction is called Read This Or You're Dead To Me (2011).

Editor Danielle Evennou is a writer who lives in her own 90's sitcom: with a strong female lead, roaring laugh track, and the inevitable moral lesson. Her work has been published in literary journals, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Blue Collar Review, Xenith, and Objet d'Art, as well as the Washington Post and DCist. Evennou makes appearances as a poet, open mic host, and a dancing payphone with a penchant for Yoko Ono. She lives in Washington, DC.

Editor Michele Ruby's fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, the Los Angeles Review, Lilith, Alimentum, Nimrod, Phoebe, Inkwell, Denver Quarterly, The Louisville Review and other journals, and a collection of stories was a finalist for the 2012 Flannery O'Connor Award.  She is currently revising a novel.  She has recently kicked her addiction to teaching by retiring from her fiction writing course at Bellarmine University in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

Editor Aviva Dove-Viebahn lives by the motto “you can never have too many irons in the fire,” which may be why she’s constantly burning herself. She holds a Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester, is Contributing Editor for the Scholar Writing Program at Ms. Magazine, and teaches at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University.