Here are the guest editors (and covers) for the Best American Series 2025.
The Best American Series is a literary institution. But just in case you’re stumbling upon it for the first time: Each book in the annual series showcases of best short fiction and nonfiction in a given year, from short stories to essays, science and nature writing, to food writing. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites, and a special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the very best pieces for the anthology.
Nicole Lamy has taken over duties as the series editor of The Best American Short Stories this year, replacing Heidi Pitlor after eighteen years. “The selections in this year’s collection offer perfect antidotes to readers battered by the hyperbolic reality of contemporary life,” says Lamy in a statement. “Page after page, these stories cut directly to eye level, bringing readers face-to-face with narrators in acute moments of change. The perspectives, plots, and voices couldn’t be more different from one another, but they share an urgent drive toward truth: The authenticity is thrilling.”
Here are the guest editors and the new covers, all featuring art by Thomas Heinz, for the Best American 2025 series, which will be published by Mariner on October 21, 2025:
The Best American Short Stories 2025
Guest editor: Celeste Ng
Series editor: Nicole Lamy
Celeste Ng is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels Everything I Never Told You, Little Fires Everywhere, and Our Missing Hearts. Ng is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, and her work has been published in over thirty languages.
Nicole A. Lamy takes the helm as series editor for THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES®. She was the books editor of the Boston Globe, where she expanded books coverage, including a reader advice column called Match Book, which she subsequently wrote for the New York Times Book Review. In addition to book reviews and features she has written about food, photography, and parenting among other topics for the Globe, the Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, and the American Scholar.
Guest editor: Jia Tolentino
Series editor: Kim Dana Kupperman
Jia Tolentino is a staff writer at the New Yorker, the author of the essay collection Trick Mirror, and a screenwriter. Formerly, she was the deputy editor at Jezebel and a contributing editor at the Hairpin. In 2020, she received a Whiting Award as well as the Jeannette Haien Ballard Prize. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine and Pitchfork, among other places. She lives in Brooklyn.
The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025
Guest editor: Don Winslow
Series editor: Steph Cha
Don Winslow is the author of twenty-six acclaimed, award-winning international bestsellers, including eight New York Times bestsellers (Savages, The Kings of Cool, The Cartel, The Force, The Border, City on Fire, City of Dreams and City in Ruins). Savages was made into a feature film by three-time Oscar-winning writer-director Oliver Stone from a screenplay by Shane Salerno, Winslow and Stone. Crime 101, based on Winslow’s short novel, will be released as a theatrical film from Amazon. He has also written a series of award-winning short stories for Audible narrated by four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris. A former investigator, anti-terrorist trainer and trial consultant, Winslow lives in California and Rhode Island.
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025
Guest editor: Susan Orlean
Series editor: Jaime Green
Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. She is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including The Library Book, Rin Tin Tin, Saturday Night, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award–winning film Adaptation. Her memoir, Joyride, will be published in October 2025. She lives with her family and her animals in Los Angeles.
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025
Guest editor: Nnedi Okorafor
Series editor: John Joseph Adams
Nnedi Okorafor is the author of multiple award-winning and New York Times bestsellers, including Death of the Author, the Binti trilogy, Who Fears Death, and Lagoon, currently in development at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. She has won every major prize in speculative fiction, including the World Fantasy, Nebula, and Eisner Awards; multiple Hugo Awards; and the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Born in Cincinnati to Igbo Nigerian immigrant parents, she now resides in Phoenix, Arizona, with her daughter, Anyaugo.
The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2025
Guest editor: Bryant Terry
Series editor: Jaya Saxena
Bryant Terry is a multidisciplinary artist, James Beard Award–winning chef, and the author of six books, including Black Food, Afro-Vegan, and Vegetable Kingdom. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of 4 Color Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Terry holds an MFA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley and an MA in History, with a focus on the African Diaspora, from NYU.
