Recognition

2025 Narrative Prize

“With extraordinary sensitivity in prose born in mean streets and reaching up to the stars, A. T. Steel writes about young, queer, and transsexual foundlings struggling for survival and dignity in New York City’s homeless shelters, projects, and gay cruising piers of the early 1990s. Reading his Narrative Prize–winning story when it came in over the transom was like discovering Faulkner or Baldwin for the first time—a resonant artistry of encompassing social consciousness and a humanizing embrace.” – Tom Jenks, co-founder & editor of Narrative Magazine, in awarding A.T. Steel the 2025 Narrative Prize

“This is possibly the most authentic, powerful fiction to ever appear in Prism & Pen, and each chapter stands on its own.” – James Finn, Editor of Prism & Pen, Columnist for the L.A. Blade