An anthology featuring contemporary masters of the short story around the globe, including Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Joyce Carol Oates, Martin Amis, and more Following the immense success of The Art of the Tale, Daniel Halpern has assembled the next generation of short-story writers—those born after 1937—to create a companion volume, The Art of the Story. Attesting to the depth, range, and continued popularity of short fiction, this collection includes seventy-eight contributors from thirty-five countries. The Art of the Story combines the best of the established masters as well as the fresh, new voices of writers whose work has seldom been translated into English.

Table of Contents:
The Art of the StoryPreface Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghana A Gift from Somewhere Hanan Al-Shaykh, Lebanon The Keeper of the Virgins Julia Alvarez, United States Amor Divino Martin Amis, England The Immortals Reinaldo Arenas, Cuba The Glass Tower Margaret Atwood, Canada Wilderness Tips Toni Cade Bambara, United States Gorilla, My Love Russell Banks, United States My Mother's Memoirs, My Father's Lie, and Other True Stories Nicola Barker, England G-String Julian Barnes, England Evermore Richard Bausch, United States Aren't You Happy for Me? Ann Beattie, United States In Amalfi T. Coraghessan Boyle, United States Rara Avis Robert Olen Butler, United States Mr. Green Peter Carey, Australia The Fat Man in History Angela Carter, England The Courtship of Mr. Lyon Raymond Carver, United States Are These Actual Miles? Patrick Chamoiseau, Martinique The Old Man Slave and the Mastiff Vikram Chandra, India Dharma Sandra Cisneros, United States Never Marry a Mexican Jim Crace, England The Prospect from the Silver Hills Edwidge Danticat, Haiti Night Women Lydia Davis, United States The House Behind Daniele del Giudice, Italy All Because of the Mistake Junot Díaz, Dominican Republic Ysrael Patricia Duncker, England Betrayal Duong Thu Huong, Vietnam Reflections of Spring Deborah Eisenberg, United States The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor Nathan Englander, United States The Twenty-seventh Man Victor Erofeyev, Russia The Parakeet Péter Esterházy, Hungary Roberto Narrates Nuruddin Farah, Somalia My Father, The Englishman, and I Richard Ford, United States Optimists Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay The Story of the Lizard Who Had the Habit of Dining on His Wives Hervé Guibert, France The Hammam Abdulrazak Gurnah, Tanzania Escort Barry Hannah, United States Midnight and I'm Not Famous Yet Peter Høeg, Denmark Portrait of the Avant-Garde Pawel Huelle, Poland Moving House Kazuo Ishiguro, England A Family Supper Roy Jacobsen, Norway Encounter Edward P. Jones, United States The First Day James Kelman, Scotland Remember Young Cecil Hanif Kureishi, England Intimacy Torgny Lindgren, Sweden The Stump-Grubber Bobbie Ann Mason, United States Wish Colum McCann, Ireland Everything in This Country Must Ian McEwan, Wales Pornography Steven Millhauser, United States Behind the Blue Curtain Lorrie Moore, United States Willing Mary Morris, United States The Lifeguard Mohammed Mrabet, Morocco The Canebrake Bharati Mukherjee, India The Management of Grief Murathan Mungan, Turkey Muradhan and Selvihan or The Tale of the Crystal Kiosk Haruki Murakami, Japan The Elephant Vanishes Joyce Carol Oates, United States Mark of Satan Ben Okri, Nigeria In the Shadow of War Amos Oz, Israel Where the Jackals Howl Victor Pelevin, Russia The Life and Adventures of Shed Number XII Francine Prose, United States Talking Dog Salman Rushdie, England The Free Radio Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria Africa Kills Her Sun Ingo Schulze, Germany The Ring Graham Swift, England Learning to Swim Antonio Tabucchi, Italy A Riddle Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Kenya Minutes of Glory Tatyana Tolstaya, Russia On the Golden Porch Rose Tremain, England John-Jin Luisa Valenzuela, Argentina Who, Me a Bum? Edmund White, United States Cinnamon Skin Zoë Wicomb, South Africa You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town John Edgar Wideman, United States Doc's Story Joy Williams, United States The Farm Jeanne Wilmot, United States Dirt Angel Jeanette Winterson, England The Green Man Tobias Wolff, United States The Night in Question Can Xue, China The Child Who Raised Poisonous Snakes Banana Yoshimoto, Japan Helix Biographical Notes