Wolff is best known for his work in two genres: the short story and the memoir. His first short story collection, "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs", was published in 1981. The collection was well received and several of its stories have since been published in a number of anthologies. Its publication coincided with a period in which several American authors who worked almost exclusively in the short story form were receiving wider recognition. As writers such as Wolff, Raymond Carver and Andre Dubus became better known, the United States was said to be having a renaissance of the short story. (Their 20th-century North American version of realism was often labelled as "Dirty realism" for its gritty veracity.)