Short Fiction: Periodicals

By the mid-1960s, Williams was finding success publishing her short stories in literary journals, and then in the early 1970s Esquire became the first of the more popular magazines to regularly feature her work. Trend-setting editors such as George Plimpton and Gordon Lish were quick to recognize her talent along with a fast-growing roster of critics and already-established writers. Her stature as a master of the form has only grown stronger over the decades, with her stories regularly anthologized in books and studied in creative writing classes, inspiring generations of younger writers.