Edward Joseph Harrington O'Brien (December 10, 1890 – February 24, 1941) was an American writer, poet, editor and anthologist. As Edward J. O'Brien, he created a series of annual anthologies containing his selection of the previous year's best short stories by U.S. authors, ''

The Best American Short Stories ''The Best American Short Stories'' is a yearly anthology that's part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the ''BASS'' has anthologized more than 2,000 short stories, including works by some of the ...

'' (originally ''The Best Short Stories of 1915'', and so on). In that he was succeeded by Martha Foley, who continued the work until her own death in 1977 without a great change in format. He went to live in Europe in 1919. He married his first wife, English writer

Romer Wilson Romer Wilson (born Florence Roma Muir Wilson (''married name'' O'Brien); 26 December 1891 in Sheffield – 11 January 1930 in Lausanne) was a British writer who wrote about 13 novels during the inter-war period. In 1921, she won the Hawthorn ...

, in 1923. Two years after her death in 1932, he married German writer Ruth Gorgel, who survived him. He died at his home in Gerrards Cross,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The cause of death was heart failure. At the time, he was the European story editor for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's England studios."Edward J. O'Brien, Short Story Editor, Boston Native, Dies", ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', February 25, 1941.

Books

As editor

* ''Poems of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood'' (1916) ith Padraic Colum">Padraic_Colum.html" ;"title="ith Padraic Colum">ith Padraic Colum* ''The Best Short Stories of 1915: and the Yearbook of the American Short Story'' (1916) [first in series] * ''The Best Short Stories of 1916: and the Yearbook of the American Short Story'' (1917) * ''The Masque of Poets: A Collection of New Poems by Contemporary American Poets'' (1918) * ''The Best Short Stories of 1920 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story'' * ''The Best British Short Stories of 1922'' ith John Cournos">John_Cournos.html" ;"title="ith John Cournos">ith John Cournos(1922) [first in series] * ''The Best Short Stories of 1923: and the Yearbook of the American Short Story'' (1924) * ''The Best British Short Stories of 1924'' [with John Cournos] * ''The Best Short Stories of 1926: and the Yearbook of the American Short Story'' (1926) * ''The Best British Short Stories of 1928'' (1928) * ''The Best Short Stories of 1931: and the Yearbook of the American Short Story'' (1931) * ''The Best Short Stories of 1932: and the Yearbook of the American Short Story'' (1932) * ''Modern English Short Stories'' (1933) * ''The Twenty-Five Finest Short Stories'' (1933) * ''The Guest Book'' (1935) * ''Elizabethan Tales'' (1937) * ''50 Best American Short Stories 1915-1939'' (1939) * ''The Best British Short Stories of 1939''

As author

* ''The Advance of the American Short Story'' (1923) * ''The Dance of the Machines: The American Short Story and the Industrial Age'' (1929) * ''Son of the Morning: A Portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche'' (1932)

As contributor

* ''A Renegade Poet and Other Essays'', by Francis Thompson (1910) ntroduction

Articles

* "The American Short Story", '' The Writer'', October 1935 * "The American Short Story—II", ''The Writer'', November 1935

References

External links

* * * 20th-century American poets 1890 births 1941 deaths American anthologists American book editors {{US-editor-stub