Founded at the University of Georgia in 1947 and published there ever since, The Georgia Review has become one of America's most highly regarded journals of arts and letters. Never stuffy and never shallow, The Georgia Review seeks a broad audience of intellectually open and curious readers—and strives to give those readers rich content that invites and sustains repeated attention and consideration. Pulitzer Prize winners and never-before-published writers are equals during the journal's manuscript evaluation process, whose goal is to identify and print stories, poems, and essays that promise to be of lasting merit.

The year 2012 marks the sixty-fifth anniversary of The Georgia Review, and Stories Wanting Only to Be Heard will acknowledge that milestone by presenting a selection of the remarkable short fiction published across the decades. The collection includes the work of well-known writers, many of whom were not yet so well known when first selected for publication by The Georgia Review, and also highlights compelling work from writers whose names may not be as familiar but whose stories are equally compelling and memorable.

The stories collected here—each one vivid, distinctive, and worthwhile to read—stand as testament to the significance of The Georgia Review's decades of work to identify and promote writing of exceptional quality.