This may be the most widely read annual out there. With stories culled from some of the top literary magazines out there (such as the New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The Atlantic) it’s important as an author of literary stories to know what is going on right now in contemporary literature. The biggest and best are in these anthologies, everyone from George Saunders and Mary Gaitskill to Sam Lipsyte and Alice Munro. What’s also compelling is that there are often selections that are taken from smaller journals, such as Hobart getting two stories in the 2012 edition. Guest editors also run the gamut from Stephen King and Raymond Carver to Margaret Atwood and Joyce Carol Oates.

Recommended for: authors who write literary fiction, are in MFA programs, and those that want the best of the New Yorker without the subscription.