Harvard Review story in ‘Best American Series’

For the fourth consecutive year, a piece from Harvard Review has been selected for inclusion in “The Best American Series” (Houghton Mifflin), a showcase for the year’s finest poetry, short stories, and essays since 1915. “Justice Shiva Ram Murthy,” by Rishi Reddi, was chosen for the 2005 edition of “The Best American Short Stories” by guest editor Michael Chabon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer. Reddi’s story originally appeared in Harvard Review 27 (Fall 2004). Contributors to Harvard Review have also been selected in recent years for “Best American Poetry 2002,” “Best American Essays 2003,” “Best American Short Stories 2003,” and “Best American Essays 2004.”

“Justice Shiva Ram Murthy” follows the cross-cultural experiences of an older Indian man who travels to the United States to live with his daughter. A judge in his homeland, the protagonist grapples with the loss of status in a culture he doesn’t quite understand. Local author Reddi is the recipient of a 2004 Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. She has also been a NIMROD/Hardman semifinalist, a Glimmer Train Emerging Writers Competition finalist, and a Vermont Studio Center Fellowship grant recipient.

The new issue of Harvard Review is due for release in June, and according to editor Christina Thompson, “it’s a wonderful issue.” Harvard Review 28 contains fiction from Joyce Carol Oates and the English writer Jim Crace; a new introduction to “Don Quixote” by Mario Vargas Llosa written in honor of the work’s 400th anniversary; poetry by Seamus Heaney and Samuel Menashe, and photographs by John Coplans.