PUSHCART PRESS | 50 Years of Brilliance

Pushcart Prize XLV (45)
Just Out!

March 13, 2021—I have in hand my 2021 Pushcart Prize XLV (Number 45). It is 50 years since my friend Bill Henderson started the annual Pushcart Prize collection of the "Best of the Small Presses." 

He and his wife Genie (who serves as archivist for LTV of East Hampton) have been near neighbors for 40 years  in The Springs, a hamlet on the East End of Long Island.

The Pushcart Prize collection this year has 64 hand-curated stories, poems, essays and memoirs, plucked from the pages of pre-eminent private (small) publishers. 

These days it is easy enough to self-publish books and post essays. This creates the problem of sifting through the sheer volume of material to pull out the best. 

It's better than the old way, when a few gatekeepers controlled access to the publication pulpits. That was  too restrictive.

The modern problem is that we need more evaluators. Not gatekeepers, but guides to the best.

For 50 years, Bill has been offering a solution. There are so many small presses that someone should be able to get their work published somewhere. The problem is to identify the gold in the pan, to find the diamonds in the rough. Bill started to do that, hunting for the best writing in the small presses, giving prizes and publishing the best in an annual volume, the Readers Digest of small presses. 

Open for Nominations Each Year

As the 2021 edition says on the copyright page, "Nominations for this series are invited from any small, independent, literary book press or magazine in the world, print or online." (Or, indeed, from anyone who reads one or more of these publications.) 

Bill Henderson

How can Bill keep up with the hundreds of small presses listed (pp. 495-502), with twenty pages of names and addresses of those that published nominated writing for the 2021 edition (pp. 511-530)? How could he be in touch with thirty pages of authors, seventy to a page (pp. 535-576)?

The key to the sustainability of all this effort is in the list of the editors, who review the nominated writing as well as suggesting their own. They are in the front of the book (pp. 7-9). The list goes on for three pages, even though only the editors for the current issue are included.

Bill Henderson (R) with George
Plimpton upon publication of
Pushcart X (#10).

The last remaining group is tucked in among the small presses (pp. 503-509), the supporters of the nonprofit that pays for the Pushcart Prizes or Fellowships. I have hastened to get Alice and myself included among the sponsors of the next round, and I encourage you to do the same. 

Send your check to Fellowships, P.O. Box 380, Wainscott, NY 11975. The giving categories are 0-$249, $250-$999, $1,000-$4,999 and $5,000 and more. 

Donors to Pushcart include such public-spirited people as Hilaria and Alec Baldwin and Joyce Carol Oates (who has been helping the publication from the beginning).

Bill has been honored with the well-deserved 2020 Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts for his creation and maintenance of the Pushcart Prize Collection.