FALL 2026

 CORK INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY FESTIVAL
reading with John Patrick McHugh, Cork, Ireland, UK
October 17th, 2026, 9pm IST

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Symphony Space, NYC
November 2nd, 2026, 7pm ET

MIEKO KAWAKAMI READING AND CONVERSATION
Yale University Japan Society, New Haven, CT
November 9th, 2026, 4:30pm ET

  “Bertino blurs the line between writer and magician.”
— Molly Young, The New York Times

NEWS

“Flowers and their Meanings,” originally published in The Baffler, has received the O. Henry Prize for Short Stories

Exit Zero has been named Electric Literature’s #1 short story collection of 2025

MHB has been named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow in Fiction

Exit Zero reviewed in the The New York Times by Molly Young: “Through all of Exit Zero, Bertino blurs the line between writer and magician.”

“Lottie Woodside and the Diamond Dust Cher,” a new short story, published in Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, introduced by Yuka Igarashi

“Viola in Midwinter,” originally published in Bennington Review, was selected for Best American Short Stories 2024