As with last year's inaugural edition, selections for the second volume of PEN America Best Debut Short Stories will be made by three award-winning writers, themselves champions and innovators of the short story form: Jodi Angel, Lesley Nneka Arimah, and Alexandra Kleeman.

Each story comes with an introduction by the editor of the literary magazine who originally published it. These commentaries provide valuable insight—not only for students of writing particularly but also for readers generally—about what editors look for and how they read, and celebrate the vital work literary magazines do to nurture contemporary literature's newest voices.