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Looking for a steady supply of teens & young adult short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

4630+ Teens & Young Adult Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for the best short stories for teens? Our collection of funny, suspenseful, and relatable young adult short stories will meet your needs.

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The Best Teen & Young Adult Short Stories

Certain experiences are integral elements of the teenage experience: worries about belonging, identity crises, the joy of making and being your own person, the first inklings of teenage romance… It’s no wonder so many artists focus on teenagers: from John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars to Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give to the iconic 1985 movie The Breakfast Club, there’s never a shortage of people interested in the teenage and young adult years as a rite of passage.

Short stories for young adults deal with formative adolescent experiences in ways that will make you feel less alone if you’re a teen yourself — or, if you’re older, in ways that’ll give you some serious nostalgia for such an intense period of life.

Want to read some of the best teen & young adult short stories, for free?

This page features our collection of young adult short stories for teens, all submitted to Reedsy’s weekly writing contest. Winning or shortlisted stories, selected by our judges, appear at the top of the page for your convenience — they’re a perfect starting point! And if you're looking for more of the contest's best entries, make sure to claim your free copy of Prompted, our new literary magazine.

As this category is quite broad, you can take a look at each story’s other thematic tags once you’ve clicked on it, to determine if it’s a genre you’re interested in. And if someone’s writing blows you away, show them your support by visiting their profile and clicking ‘Follow’.