1The Journal of the Short Story in English/Les Cahiers de la Nouvelle, founded by Ben Forkner, was launched in 1983 by the University of Angers Press with a colloquium devoted to criticism of the short story. As a Fulbright Fellow that year in Angers, I was witness to animated exchanges between Anthony Burgess and John Wain, as well as to a robust array of papers on the short story. A selection of these papers was published in the second number, along with a commentary by Anthony Burgess. This pattern of publishing papers from succeeding colloquia and essays submitted to the Journal has continued over the years, supplemented by interviews with prominent short story writers and issues devoted to individual writers, as well as to selected themes and groups of writers of various nationalities and traditions from throughout the English-speaking world.

2In 1986, my Belmont University colleague Corinne Dale, also a former Fulbrighter in Angers, and I were invited to serve as North American editors of JSSE. Subsequently we solicited and helped screen submissions to the Journal for many years. This remarkable scholarly collaboration between institutions in France and the USA continues to this day. Advancing online technology has allowed our Journal to expand and develop far beyond anything we might have dreamed of in the mid-eighties. Even a cursory glance at our online site (<journals.openedition.org/jsse>) reveals its growth and reach over the years.

3Through generations of scholar-editors and collaborators, from Ben Forkner and Jeanne Devoize, Emmanuel Vernadakis and Linda Collinge, to Gérald Préher, Colette Colligan, and Xavier Le Brun presently, each team of editors at the University of Angers has brought imagination and innovation to their editorial mission. Our series of colloquia has expanded to include symposia at affiliated universities in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, through the European Network for Short Fiction Research (<ensfr.univ-angers.fr>), an outgrowth of JSSE. Now more than ever before, critics of the short story are submitting articles, attending scholarly meetings, and engaging in stimulating dialogue about the short story as it continues to thrive in ever-expanding dimensions. The editors in Angers invite all scholars of the short story to participate.