The Greatest Story Collections of All Time
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.
See also:
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 for years to come.
Latest update: March 16, 2024
The 111 greatest story collections
In chronological order
c.600–500 BCE
Aesop's Fables
Aesop,
Greece,
story collection
Includes 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,
story collection
c.200–300 BCE
Panchatantra
Anonymous,
India,
story collection
c.290
Records of Diverse Matters
Zhang Hua,
China,
story collection
c.800
Book of Misers
Al-Jahiz,
Iraq,
story collection
c.800–1200
Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
Anonymous,
Persia,
story collection
c.800–1400
One Thousand and One Nights
Anonymous,
Persia,
story collection
Includes Tale of the Fisherman and the Jinni, The Tale of the Three Apples, The Barber's Tale of Himself, and more
c.1100
Mabinogion
Anonymous,
Wales,
story collection
1335
Tales of a Parrot
Nakhshabi,
Persia,
story collection
1348
The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio,
Italy,
story collection
c.1387–1400
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer,
England,
prose and poetry collection
1558
The Heptaméron
Marguerite de Navarre,
France,
story collection
1697
Tales of Mother Goose
Charles Perrault,
France,
story collection
Includes Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, and others
1766
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
Pu Songling,
China,
story collection
1812–1857
Germany,
story collection
Includes "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
Includes Rip Van winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and others
1832
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
Nikolai Gogol,
Ukraine,
story collection
1837
Twice-Told Tales
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
United States,
story collection
1839
United States,
story collection
Includes "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall", "MS. Found in a Bottle", and others
1845
Tales
United States,
story collection
Includes 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,
story collection
1858
Scenes of Clerical Life
George Eliot,
England,
story collection
1872
Fairy Tales and Stories
Hans Christian Andersen,
Denmark,
story collection
In a Glass Darkly
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu,
Ireland,
story collection
1882
New Arabian Nights
Robert Louis Stevenson,
Scotland,
story collection
Includes The Pavilion on the Links, A Lodging for the Night, The Sire de Malédroit's Door, and others
1886
Motley Stories
Anton Chekhov,
Russia,
story collection
Includes The Huntsman, and others
1887
At Dusk
Anton Chekhov,
Russia,
story collection
Includes 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,
story collection
1892
England,
story collection
Includes 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,
story collection
1894
England,
novel
Includes Silver Blaze, The Greek Interpreter, The Final Problem, and others
The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling,
England,
story collection
Tevye the Dairyman
Sholom Aleichem,
Ukraine,
story collection
1902
Just So Stories
Rudyard Kipling,
England,
story collection
Includes 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,
story collection
1911
England,
story collection
Includes The Blue Cross, The Invisible Man, The Hammer of God, and others
1912
Canada,
story collection
1914
Ireland,
story collection
Includes The Sisters, Araby, Eveline, Two Gallants, Ivy Day in the Committee Room, The Dead, and others
1914–1917
Bunch of Stories
Rabindranath Tagore,
Bengal,
story collection
1919
Winesburg, Ohio
Sherwood Anderson,
United States,
story collection
1922
Rashōmon and Other Stories
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa,
Japan,
story collection
New Zealand,
story collection
Includes At the Bay, The Garden Party, The Daughters of the Late Colonel, Miss Brill, and others
United States,
story collection
Includes May Day, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and others
1925
United States,
story collection
Includes 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,
story collection
1927
Men Without Women
United States,
story collection
Includes Hills Like White Elephants, The Killers, Ten Indians, and others
1928
Ashendon: Or the British Agent
W. Somerset Maugham,
England,
story collection
1931
Odessa Stories
Isaac Babel,
Russia,
story collection
Guys and Dolls
Damon Runyon,
United States,
story collection
1933
Winner Take Nothing
United States,
story collection
Includes A Clean, Well-Lighted Place; A Natural History of the Dead; The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio; and others
1935
United States,
story collection
1936
Now That April's Here and Other Stories
Canada,
story collection
Includes 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,
story collection
1941
A Curtain of Green
Eudora Welty,
United States,
story collection
1941–1956
Fictions
Jorge Luis Borges,
Argentina,
story collection
1943
Mythology
Edith Hamilton,
United States,
story collection
1946
Dark Avenues
Ivan Bunin,
Russia,
story collection
Adventures in Time and Space
ed. Rymond J. Healy, J. Francis McComas,
United States,
story collection
1947
The Lottery and Other Stories
Shirley Jackson,
United States,
story collection
1951
The Complete Short Stories
W. Somerset Maugham,
England,
story collection
1953
The Burning Plain and Other Stories
Juan Rulfo,
Mexico,
story collection
Nine Stories
J.D. Salinger,
United States,
story collection
Includes 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,
story collection
Includes A Good Man Is Hard to Find, The River, The Life You Save May Be Your Own, Good Country People, and others
1958
The Magic Barrel
Berbard Malamud,
United States,
story collection
1962–1983
Labyrinths
Jorge Luis Borges,
Argentina,
story collection
1963
Stories of Manto
Saadat Hasan Manto,
Pakistan,
story collection
Short Friday and Other Stories
Isaac Bashevis Singeer,
United States,
story collection
1965
Cosmicomics
Italo Calvino,
Italy,
story collection
Everything That Rises Must Converge
Flannery O'Connor,
United States,
story collection
Includes Everything That Rises Must Converge, Greenleaf, The Lame Shall Enter First, Revelation, Parker's Back, Judgement Day, and others
1967
Dangerous Visions
ed. Harlan Ellison,
United States,
story collection
1968
In the Heart of the Heart of the Country
William H. Gass,
United States,
story collection
The Séance and Other Stories
Isaac Bashevis Singer,
United States,
story collection
Welcome to the Monkey House
Kurt Vonnegut,
United States,
story collection
Includes Harrison Bergeron, Welcome to the Monkey House, D.P. , The Euphio Question, and others
1971
Lives of Girls and Women
Alice Munro,
Canada,
story collection
The Complete Stories
Franz Kafka,
Germany,
story collection
1972
Again, Dangerous Visions
ed. Harlan Ellison,
United States,
Story collection in two volumes
1974
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute
Grace Paley,
United States,
story collection
1975
The Wind's Twelve Quarters
Ursula Le Guin,
United States,
story collection
1976
Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
Raymond Carver,
United States,
story collection
1977
The Beggar Maid
Alice Munro,
Canada,
story collection
Delta of Venus
Anaïs Nin,
France,
story collection
1978
Rumpole of the Bailey
John Mortimer,
England,
story collection
Kolyma Tales
Varlam Shalamov,
Russia,
story collection
The Stories of John Cheever
John Cheever,
United States,
story collection
1979
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
Angela Carter,
England,
story collection
1981
Couples, Pssersby
Botho Strauss,
Germany,
story collection
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Raymond Carver,
United States,
story collection
1983
Cathedral
Raymond Carver,
United States,
story collection
1987
You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town
Zoë Wicomb,
South Africa,
story collection
1988
Where I'm Calling From
Raymond Carver,
United States,
story collection
1990
Like Life
Lorrie Moore,
United States,
story collection
The Things They Carried
Tim O'Brien,
United States,
story collection
1990–1993
Raise the Red Lantern
Su Tong,
China,
novella series
Includes Raise the Red Lantern, Nineteen Thirty-Four Escapes, Opium Family
1992
Jesus' Son
Denis Johnson,
United States,
story collection
1996
Quilt and Other Stories
Ismat Chugtai,
India,
story collection
Drown
Junot Díaz,
United States,
story collection
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
George Saunders,
United States,
story collection
1999
Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri,
United States,
story collection
2001
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
Alice Munro,
Canada,
story collection
Includes Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; The Bear Came Over the Mountain; and others
2002
Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang,
United States,
story collection
2003
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
ZZ Packer,
United States,
story collection
2004
Runaway
Alicde Munro,
Canada,
story collection
2006
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Haruki Murakami,
Japan,
story collection
2008
Unaccustomed Earth
Jhumpa Lahiri,
United States,
story collection
2009
The Thing Around Your Neck
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
Nigeria,
story collection
2013
Tenth of December
George Saunders,
United States,
story collection
2017
Her Body and Other Parties
Carmen Maria Machado,
United States,
story collection
