Pittsburgh, PA – Bill Gaythwaite of Union, NJ, is the winner of the 2025 Drue Heinz Literature Prize, one of the nation’s most prestigious prizes for a collection of short stories. Gaythwaite’s collection, A Place in the World, was selected by Manuel Muñoz. A Place in the World will be published on October 7, 2025.

“These are captivating stories that reveal how intertwined we really are with our past selves,” shares Manuel Muñoz, author of What You See in the Dark and The Consequences. “A fantastic collection about facing up to the ghosts of our mistakes and our fears, and how our secrets refuse to let us forget who we were and what we’ve done.”

The eleven stories in A Place in the World are character-driven portrayals of various lives transformed by random events or through a twist of fate, stories of ordinary people experiencing extraordinary circumstances—a hopeless gay hustler, in for the long con, finds himself falling in love instead while vacationing in Denmark; a young woman living on the coast of Maine confronts her painful past when her little brother comes to visit after being released from rehab; a failed New York City actor afraid of commitment goes on a comic rant and embraces an epiphany while cat-sitting for a friend. This poignant, engaging collection offers compassion and surprising optimism while celebrating astonishing resilience in the face of life’s persistent challenges.

“As someone who has treasured short stories from an early age, and who has been writing them for almost as long, winning the Drue Heinz Literature Prize is a tremendous honor,” reflects Gaythwaite. “I’m extremely grateful to be part of this wonderful tradition, and I’m still a little in shock. That judge Manuel Muñoz, the supremely gifted storyteller, and a writer I greatly admire, chose my collection is probably more than I can fully process.”

Bill Gaythwaite’s debut novel, Underburn, was published by Delphinium Books in 2023. His short fiction has appeared in Subtropics, Chicago Quarterly Review, Willow Springs, South Carolina Review, and Puerto del Sol, among many other publications. He is a three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize. Bill is currently the assistant director for special populations at Columbia Law School. He lives in New Jersey.

A Place in the World by Bill Gaythwaite will be published in hardcover by the University of Pittsburgh Press with an on-sale date of October 7, 2025    ·   184pp    ·    6 x 9    ·    ISBN 9780822948766    ·    Cloth $24.00   ·    eBook available