The 111 Greatest Story Collections
(See also The 444 Greatest Stories)
Often an author's compilation of short stories is acclaimed as much as or more than any particular work in the collection. That's what this list is for. It presents the greatest story collections from all genres, cultures and times.
Preference is given to volumes produced by authors during their writing careers, though we have occasionally had to resort to later selected and collected works.
Titles most appreciated by readers, writers, critics and scholars have been determined through the same extensive research and surveys that created The Greatest Literature of All Time.
This list is a work always in progress. New publications, changing tastes and further research will continue to prompt additions and revisions to the list for years to come.
Latest update: December 24, 2022
Click linked titles and authors for details, critiques and other information.
c.600–500 BCE
Aesop's Fables
Aesop
Greece
Stories
including The Fox and the Grapes, The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, The Tortoise and the Hare, and more
c.300 BCE
Zhuangzi
Zhuang Zhou
China
Stories
c.200–300 BCE
Panchatantra
Anonymous
India
Stories
c.290
Records of Diverse Matters
Zhang Hua
China
Stories
c.800
Book of Misers
Al-Jahiz
Iraq
Stories
c.800–1200
Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
Anonymous
Persia
Stories
c.800–1400
One Thousand and One Nights
Anonymous
Persia
Stories
including Tale of the Fisherman and the Jinni, The Tale of the Three Apples, The Barber's Tale of Himself, and more
1335
Tales of a Parrot
Nakhshabi
Persia
Stories
1558
The Heptaméron
Marguerite de Navarre
France
Stories
1697
Tales of Mother Goose
Charles Perrault
France
Stories
including Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, and others
1812–1857
Germany
Stories
including Cinderella, Little Red Cap, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, Tom Thumb, and others
1819–1820
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
United states
Story and essay collection
including Rip Van winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and others
1832
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
Nikolai Gogol
Ukraine
Stories
1837
Twice-Told Tales
Nathaniel Hawthorne
United States
Stories
1839
United States
Stories
including The Fall of the House of Usher, The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall, MS. Found in a Bottle, and others
1840–1847
The Ingoldsby Legends
Richard Harris Barham
England
Stories in three volumes
1845
Tales
United States
Stories
including The Gold-Bug, A Descent into the Maelstrom, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter, and others
1852
A Sportsman's Sketches
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
Stories
1858
Scenes of Clerical Life
George Eliot
England
Stories
1872
Fairy Tales and Stories
Hans Christian Andersen
Denmark
Stories
In a Glass Darkly
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Ireland
Stories
1877
Three Tales
Gustave Flaubert
France
Stories
1882
New Arabian Nights
Robert Louis Stevenson
Scotland
Stories
including The Pavilion on the Links, A Lodging for the Night, The Sire de Malédroit's Door, and others
1886
Motley Stories
Anton Chekhov
Russia
Stories
including The Huntsman, and others
1887
At Dusk
Anton Chekhov
Russia
Stories
including Dreams, A Trivial Occurrence, A Bad Business, At Home, A Restless Guest, On the Road, Agafya, and others
1888
Plain Tales From the Hills
Rudyard Kipling
England
Stories
1892
England
Stories
including A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-Headed League, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, and others
Tales of Soldiers and Civilians
Ambrose Bierce
United States
Stories
1894
England
Novel
including Silver Blaze, The Greek Interpreter, The Final Problem, and others
The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling
England
Stories
Tevye the Dairyman
Sholom Aleichem
Ukraine
Stories
1902
Just So Stories
Rudyard Kipling
England
Stories
including How the Camel Got His Hump, How the Leopard Got His Spots, How the First Letter Was Written, and others
1904
Cabbages and Kings
O. Henry
United States
Stories
1911
England
Stories
including The Blue Cross, The Invisible Man, The Hammer of God, and others
1914
Ireland
Stories
including The Sisters, Araby, Eveline, Two Gallants, Ivy Day in the Committee Room, The Dead, and others
1914–1917
Bunch of Stories
Rabindranath Tagore
Bengal
Stories
1919
Winesburg, Ohio
Sherwood Anderson
United States
Stories
1920
Youth and the Bright Medusa
Willa Cather
United States
Stories
including Paul's Case, A Wagner Matinee, A Death in the Desert, and others
1922
Rashōmon and Other Stories
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Japan
Stories
New Zealand
Stories
including At the Bay, The Garden Party, The Daughters of the Late Colonel, Miss Brill, and others
United States
Stories
including May Day, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and others
1925
United States
Stories
including The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife, The Three Day Blow, The Big Two-Hearted River, and others
1926
Winnie-the-Pooh
A.A. Milne
England
Stories
1927
Men Without Women
United States
Stories
including Hills Like White Elephants, The Killers, Ten Indians, and others
1928
Ashendon: Or the British Agent
W. Somerset Maugham
England
Stories
1931
Odessa Stories
Isaac Babel
Russia
Stories
Guys and Dolls
Damon Runyon
United States
Stories
1933
Winner Take Nothing
United States
Stories
including A Clean, Well-Lighted Place; A Natural History of the Dead; The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio; and others
1936
Now That April's Here and Other Stories
Canada
Stories
including All the Years of Her Life, A Sick Call, Now That April's Here, Two Fishermen, and others
1939
Pale Horse, Pale Rider
Katherine Anne Porter
United States
Stories
1941
A Curtain of Green
Eudora Welty
United States
Stories
1941–1956
Fictions
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
Stories
1943
Mythology
Edith Hamilton
United States
Stories
1946
Dark Avenues
Ivan Bunin
Russia
Stories
Adventures in Time and Space
ed. Rymond J. Healy, J. Francis McComas
United States
Stories
1947
The Lottery and Other Stories
Shirley Jackson
United States
Stories
1951
The Complete Short Stories
W. Somerset Maugham
England
Stories
The Book of Deeds
S.Y. Agnon
Israel
Stories
1953
The Burning Plain and Other Stories
Juan Rulfo
Mexico
Stories
Nine Stories
J.D. Salinger
United States
Stories
including A Perfect Day for Bananafish, For Esmé—With Love and Squalor, and others
1955
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Flannery O'Connor
United States
Stories
1958
The Magic Barrel
Berbard Malamud
United States
Stories
1962–1983
Labyrinths
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
Stories
1963
Stories of Manto
Saadat Hasan Manto
Pakistan
Stories
Short Friday and Other Stories
Isaac Bashevis Singeer
United States
Stories
1965
EVerything That Rises Must Converge
Flannery O'Connor
United States
Stories
1967
Dangerous Visions
Various, ed. Harlan Ellison
United States
Stories
1968
In the Heart of the Heart of the Country
William H. Gass
United States
Stories
The Séance and Other Stories
Isaac Bashevis Singer
United States
Stories
Welcome to the Monkey House
Kurt Vonnegut
United States
Stories
including Harrison Bergeron, Welcome to the Monkey House, D.P. , The Euphio Question, and others
1971
Lives of Girls and Women
Alice Munro
Canada
Stories
The Complete Stories
Franz Kafka
Germany
Stories
1972
Again, Dangerous Visions
Various, ed. Harlan Ellison
United States
Story collection in two volumes
1974
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute
Grace Paley
United States
Stories
1975
The Wind's Twelve Quarters
Ursula Le Guin
United States
Stories
1976
Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
Raymond Carver
United States
Stories
1977
The Beggar Maid
Alice Munro
Canada
Stories
Delta of Venus
Anaïs Nin
United States
Stories
1978
Rumpole of the Bailey
John Mortimer
England
Stories
The Stories of John Cheever
John Cheever
United States
Stories
1979
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
Angela Carter
England
Stories
1981
Couples, Pssersby
Botho Strauss
Germany
Stories
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Raymond Carver
United States
Stories
1983
Cathedral
Raymond Carver
United States
Stories
1987
You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town
Zoë Wicomb
South Africa
Stories
1988
Where I'm Calling From
Raymond Carver
United States
Stories
1990
Like Life
Lorrie Moore
United States
Stories
The Things They Carried
Tim O'Brien
United States
Stories
1992
Jesus' Son
Denis Johnson
United States
Stories
1996
Selected Stories
Mavis Gallant
Canada
Stories
including The Moslem Wife, In Youth Is Pleasure, The Chosen Husband, In Plain Sight, and others
Quilt and Other Stories
Ismat Chugtai
India
Stories
Drown
Junot Díaz
United States
Stories
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
George Saunders
United States
Stories
1997
The Philip K. Dick Reader
Philip K. Dick
United States
Stories
1999
Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri
United States
Stories
2001
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
Alice Munro
Canada
Stories
including Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; The Bear Came Over the Mountain; and others
2002
Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang
United States
Stories
2003
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
ZZ Packer
United States
Stories
2004
Runaway
Alicde Munro
Canada
Stories
2006
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Haruki Murakami
Japan
Stories
2008
Unaccustomed Earth
Jhumpa Lahiri
United States
Stories
2009
The Thing Around Your Neck
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nigeria
Stories
2013
Tenth of December
George Saunders
United States
Stories
2017
Her Body and Other Parties
Carmen Maria Machado
United States
Stories
