🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams was an American author generally regarded one of the best playwrights ever to come out of the United States. Between the 1940s and the 1960s, he was one of the most prolific playwrights penning several award-winning plays, the most popular of which was “The Glass Menagerie”. His work is known for its dramatic flair, poetic language, heartbreaking themes, and gritty characters that have made them timeless American classics. Tennessee was born Thomas Lanier Williams III in March 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi, to straight-laced minister’s daughter Edwina Dakin Williams, and a traveling salesman Cornelius Coffin Williams. In 1918, the family moved to Louis, Missouri where Cornelius has found a job as the manager of the international Shoe Company in St. Louis.
All Book Series by Tennessee Williams
Moise and the World of Reason
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 1975
27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Other Plays
Series opener · book 1 of 22 · published 1945
Tennessee Williams' Letters To Donald Windham, 1940 1965
Book 2 of 5 · published 1976
The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams: 1920-1945
Book 4 of 5 · published 2000
San Francisco Stories
Series opener · book 1 of 12 · published 1990 Anthology · John Miller
On Suicide: Great Writers on the Ultimate Question
Book 3 of 12 · published 1992 Anthology · William Shakespeare,Virginia Woolf,Ambrose Bierce,Leo Tolstoy,Graham Greene,Langston Hughes,Emily Dickinson,John Donne,Plato,Jorge Luis Borges,Gustave Flaubert,Robert Coles,Walker Percy,Albert Camus,Cynthia Ozick,William Styron,Dorothy Parker,Sylvia Plath,Primo Levi,Phillip Lopate,John Miller,Genevieve Anderson,Alfred Alvarez,Émile Durkheim,Howard I. Kushner
New Orleans Stories
Book 4 of 12 · published 1992 Anthology · John Miller,Genevieve Anderson
Chicago Stories
Book 5 of 12 · published 1993 Anthology · Stuart Dybek,John Miller
Southwest Stories
Book 6 of 12 · published 1993 Anthology · D.H. Lawrence,Alison Moore,Barry Gifford,Sandra Cisneros,Larry McMurtry,Sam Shepard,Leslie Marmon Silko,C.G. Jung,John Miller,Georgia O'Keefe
Florida Stories
Book 7 of 12 · published 1993 Co-authored · Dave Barry,Elmore Leonard,Ernest Hemingway,John D. MacDonald,Damon Runyon,Isaac Bashevis Singer,Nathaniel Hawthorne,Stephen Crane,Zora Neale Hurston,Elizabeth Bishop,Alison Lurie,Wallace Stevens,John Sayles,John James Audubon,Joy Williams,Joan Didion,John Miller,KirstenMiller,William Bartram
Lust: Lascivious Love Stories and Passionate Poems
Book 8 of 12 · published 1994 Anthology · John Miller,KirstenMiller
Alaska Stories
Book 9 of 12 · published 1995 Anthology · John Miller,KirstenMiller
Texas Stories
Book 10 of 12 · published 1995 Anthology · John Miller,KirstenMiller
San Francisco Thrillers
Book 11 of 12 · published 1995 Anthology · Tim Smith,John Miller
Cape Cod Stories
Latest in the series · book 12 of 12 · published 2002 Anthology · Tim Smith,John Miller
Come Back, Little Sheba
Series opener · book 1 of 11 · published 1950 Anthology · William Inge
The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs
Book 4 of 11 · published 1960 Co-authored · William Inge
4 Plays by William Inge: Come Back, Little Sheba, Picnic, Bus Stop, the Dark at the Top of the Stairs
Book 6 of 11 · published 1964 Anthology · William Inge
Summer Brave - Acting Edition
Book 8 of 11 · published 1979 Anthology · William Inge
Splendor in the Grass, The Play
Book 9 of 11 · published 1998 Anthology · William Inge
The Apartment Complex: Seven One-Act Plays
Book 10 of 11 · published 2016 Anthology · William Inge
Somewhere in America: Six One-Act Plays
Latest in the series · book 11 of 11 · published 2016 Anthology · William Inge,Craig Pospisil
First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers
Book 3 of 7 · published 1994
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Tennessee Williams?
Tennessee Williams was an American author generally regarded one of the best playwrights ever to come out of the United States. Between the 1940s and the 1960s, he was one of the most prolific playwrights penning several award-winning plays, the most popular of which was “The Glass Menagerie”. His work is known for its dramatic flair, poetic language, heartbreaking themes, and gritty characters that have made them timeless American classics.
Which Tennessee Williams series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Collection of Plays series, the earliest of Tennessee Williams's multi-book series: it opens with Candles to the Sun (1936) and runs to 37 books across 1936–2020, ending with Adam and Eve on a Ferry (2020). Tennessee Williams's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Tennessee Williams written?
Tennessee Williams has 96 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1936 and 2023. 48 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the Collection of Plays series with 37 books — and 48 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Tennessee Williams's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Tennessee Williams's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Collection of Plays (1936–2020, 37 books) and William Inge's Plays (1950–2016, 11 books).
How are Tennessee Williams's books organised into series?
This guide splits Tennessee Williams's 96 books into 2 named series and 48 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Collection of Plays (37 books, 1936–2020); William Inge's Plays (11 books, 1950–2016).