When asked what this year’s Society of Midland Authors Award means to him, Miles Harvey didn’t talk about prestige, past acclaim or what comes next. He talked about how close his book came to never existing at all.

“There simply isn’t much of a market for short story collections these days, especially in New York, so I had to really struggle to find a publisher.” said Harvey, a professor and chair in DePaul’s English department and director of the DePaul Publishing Institute.

But despite the odds, “The Registry of Forgotten Objects,” a collection more than 30 years in the making, did get published; and not just published, but honored. Harvey took home the 2025 award for Adult Fiction, joining literary heavyweights like Stuart Dybek and Marilynne Robinson as past winners.

“There are a ton of amazing writers in the Midwest, so it’s both thrilling and a little intimidating to realize that previous winners of this same award include a bunch of authors I greatly admire,” Harvey said, naming Dybek, Robinson and Aleksandar Hemon.

A former journalist and bestselling nonfiction author, Harvey is no stranger to writing acclaim. His previous works — including “The Island of Lost Maps” and “The King of Confidence” — were critical successes. But his latest work represents something else entirely. It’s not just fiction; it’s fiction that’s deeply personal.

“Back when I was studying for my MFA in Ann Arbor, I never would have guessed that it would take me three-plus decades to publish my first collection of fiction,” Harvey said, referencing his studies at the University of Michigan.

He didn’t rush the process. Harvey said he started with six older stories and listened to them — really listened. Then, over a few intense years, he wrote new ones. The final product is a constellation of stories tied not just by characters but by the quiet presence of physical objects that carry emotion, loss, memory.

In one story, a couple combs a beach for debris after their child disappears, hoping every net or buoy might carry a clue. In another, a vandal sees visions of people’s lives through the homes they’ve left behind.

Harvey’s wife, Chicago actress Rengin Altay, knows that weight well. She narrated the audiobook alongside actor Andrew White.

“Collaborating with Miles is a great gift,” Altay said, “as a family and as an artist.”

To those who know him, Harvey’s writing success is matched only by his integrity and curiosity. Daniel Stolar, a fellow DePaul professor and accomplished short story writer, called Harvey’s latest prize-winning book “nearly luminescent.”

“The best short stories capture some of the mystery of what it means to be alive,” Stolar said. “And these stories do that.”

Stolar also praised Harvey, — the person, as he’s noted, who has played basketball with the same friends for decades, who canvasses door to door in Wisconsin every election cycle, and who listens to people even when he disagrees with them.

“He’s a liberal in the best sense of the word,” Stolar said, “always on the side of the little guy, always distrustful of easy answers.”

Harvey said his work as an educator is just as meaningful to him as his writing. At DePaul, he doesn’t only teach. As director of the DePaul Publishing Institute, he helps shape the next generation of writers and editors.

“DePaul has an amazing creative writing faculty,” Harvey said. “One of the great joys of my career has been to work with such a talented group of writers and teachers.”

Still, writing remains his core pursuit and his greatest challenge. He said the work never gets easier.

That’s the real thread tying together his stories, his students, his marriage and his life — that willingness to keep learning, to stay curious and to never stop listening that his colleagues have noted.

For Harvey, the work is never done.

 “Well, one of the things I love about being a writer is that the work is always going to kick your ass, you’re always struggling to figure things out but that’s what makes it fun,” Harvey said.

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