Anchor Books first invited me to be series editor in 2002 and then included me in the company of the intelligent, literate, and knowledgeable people who carry out its work. My thanks to Alice Van Straalen, Lisa Weinert, Sloane Crosley, Russell Perreault, Mark Abrams, and Paige Smith. The breadth of Diana Secker Tesdell’s knowledge and her kindness to me gave meaning to making the smallest detail correct.

In 2003, the Jentel Foundation began offering a month-long residency in its beautiful setting in the Lower Piney Creek Valley of Wyoming to each O. Henry winner. Such generosity affirms the long connection between Jentel’s founder, Neltje, granddaughter of Frank Nelson Doubleday, whose company was the O. Henry’s original publisher, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. Anchor Books originated as a division of Doubleday. Deep thanks for this opportunity for the O. Henry authors.

The Department of English of the University of Texas at Austin gave The O. Henry Prize Stories a home, and for sixteen years, talented graduate students from the Michener Center for Writers and the New Writers Project assisted me in reading the many submissions. I hope that they learned to be as demanding of their own work as I’ve been when choosing stories for The O. Henry Prize Stories, and I’m grateful for their help in understanding the stories that puzzled and intrigued us. Thanks in 2018 to Rachel Heng. For the third year in a row, Fatima Kola read countless stories for The O. Henry Prize Stories, finding many jewels and something to praise even in the semiprecious. She was generous with her time, brilliance, and friendship, and no thanks can ever be enough.

—Laura Furman