BOOKS: Deborah Jiang-Stein on the Birth of a Short Story Collection

Deborah Jiang-Stein (photo by McConnell/Hauser Inc.)

Lucky Tomorrow is my debut work of fiction. This collection of short stories is a different form of truth-telling from my nonfiction writing. After my memoir Prison Baby was published, and related essays, I turned to my first beloved form of writing — poetry and fiction. Several of the stories in Lucky Tomorrow I originally wrote as prose poems.

This book is a natural evolution from my memoir, and loosely founded in my work speaking in prisons and drug rehab centers around the country, where I am a witness to human vulnerability. The collection took shape gradually over more than 10 years. Characters appeared first as a whisper, then distinct voices demanded my attention.

One of my earliest influences for the short-short story form was the book Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata. Memoir taught me to look unflinchingly at difficult truths, and that same gaze serves these characters well. My work in prisons and rehab centers brings me firsthand inside how those in society’s margins often reveal profound truths.

The collection’s focus on “outcasts and visionaries” reflects my core belief that those pushed to the edges have important and unique insights into the center.

I also believe there’s a shared humanity underneath surface differences. The characters are composites — not direct portraits of real people, but rather emotional truths woven into fictional bodies: a woman searching for her daughter, a flower vendor, a big wave surfer, a woman in prison writing her life story.

Universal threads of longing, regret, and hope transcend the individual circumstances in these stories.

One note about meeting my publisher: over a lunch with Carolyn Holbrook a year ago, she asked if I was working on a second memoir. Even though I have enough material for this, my fiction tugs me harder right now. She connected me to her publisher, the University of Minnesota Press, and it flowed from there. I thank her deeply, and the Press, for believing in my work and writing.

Right now pre-release, from what early readers have said, the stories are an invitation to expand their own capacity for empathy and understanding across differences. The stories are a surrender to uncertainty, following characters down unexpected paths.

Deborah Jiang-Stein is an award-winning writer, public speaker, collaborator, and author of the memoir Prison Baby. She is founder of the unPrison Project, working with and mentoring people in prisons to build life skills.

Excerpt

Excerpt reprinted from Lucky Tomorrow: Stories by Deborah Jiang-Stein. Published by the University of Minnesota Press. Copyright 2025 by Deborah Jiang-Stein. All rights reserved. Used by permission.