Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Go the Way Your Blood Beats | 1996 | John Edgar Wideman | Buy |
| 2 | The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction | 1999 | John Edgar Wideman | Buy |
| 3 | Prize Stories 2000: The O. Henry Awards | 2000 | John Edgar Wideman | Buy |
| 4 | 20 | 2001 | John Edgar Wideman | Buy |
| 5 | My Soul Has Grown Deep | 2001 | John Edgar Wideman | Buy |
| 6 | Making Callaloo: 25 Years of Black Literature | 2002 | John Edgar Wideman | Buy |
John Edgar Wideman edited several anthologies between 1996 and 2002 that highlight African American literary traditions. Go the Way Your Blood Beats (1996) is notable for being an early collection of Black writing about same-sex love, drawing its title from an interview with James Baldwin. My Soul Has Grown Deep (2001) gathers African American literature across genres, while Making Callaloo: 25 Years of Black Literature (2002) celebrates a quarter century of the Callaloo literary journal.
His editorial work also reached beyond specifically African American anthologies. The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction (1999) is a broader collection used in many creative writing programs. Prize Stories 2000: The O. Henry Awards showcases the best short stories of that year. These anthologies show Wideman’s range as a reader and curator of other writers’ work.