Writers Read 5 Minute Personal True Stories
A literary forum promoting established and emerging writers through curated live and digital performances celebrating the spoken word. It’s a high-quality platform for true personal stories—two pages and 650 words long, read aloud by the writer before an audience. Writers Read places a strong emphasis on the craft of writing—word choices, sentence structures, the arc of the narrative. Our submission-based events are developed around broad themes that invite a wide range of expression.
Episodes
In Forbidden Walk, Daphne Gregory-Thomas takes us back to a sun-fading afternoon on a tight-knit city block — immigrant families, clotheslines, penny candy, and a rule that said you never walk to the corner store alone. Warm, quietly romantic, and laced with the specific textures of a mid-century New York childhood, this essay is a love story told in two digits and a lifetime of steps. Daphne Gregory-Thomas is a retired educa...
Steven Lewis shares Not My Father’s Cadillac, a candid and often humorous reflection on growing up with a hardworking father and the long arc of understanding that follows. Through rebellion, adulthood, and an unexpected turn, the story explores identity, family, and the quiet realization of what we once failed to see.
What happens when a 12-year-old kid is forced to retire?
This week, we dive into the hilarious and sweaty world of a teenage transplant trapped in a 1970s Central Florida retirement community. Surrounded by Hammond organs, matching fezzes, and a "post-reproductive" neighborhood, our guest shares what it was like navigating puberty while wearing dead people’s clothes.
In this episode, we discuss:
The Thrift Shop Trap: Why adolesc...
What does it mean to look back at the men who raised us, or the spaces they left behind? In this episode of Writers Read, we bring you a collection of true, five-minute personal essays that explore the complex, beautiful, and often unspoken dynamics of fatherhood.
FEATURED WRITERS
Steven Lewis
Dan Zevin
Malachy McCourt
David Masello
Writers Read is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the art of the personal narrative. We bring voices t...
What does it take to survive live television in the 1960s? For one production assistant named Jim Russek, it started with schlepping tongue sandwiches from the Stage Deli and ended with handling comedy legends like George Burns, Joan Rivers, and Sid Caesar. This is a hilarious, behind-the-scenes look at the golden age of variety TV, featuring a high-stakes, live-broadcast disaster involving 100 pounds of cue cards, a jazz diva, and...
Dressed in black, Afro-Latina dancer Mercy stood alone by the DJ booth at her first Salsa social, bypassed for lighter-skinned dancers. In this episode, we explore colorism on the dance floor and the deep West African roots of Salsa. Mercy shares how she navigated her dual identity, embraced the rhythm of La Clave, and ultimately reclaimed her space on the floor.
Her story is a beautiful reminder that Salsa isn't just a dance&mdash...
In honor of National Library Week, we’re celebrating the sanctuaries of story and the quiet power of the printed word.
Step inside the stacks with this special "My Library" edition of the Writers Read podcast. Moving beyond the spine and into the heart, we bring you raw, lyrical, true five-minute stories from a lineup of talented writers who explore what it means to be shaped by the books and the spaces that house them.
What lies inside the 'Pandora’s boxes' of our abandoned childhoods? This week, a writer digs through old papers to revisit a "mortifying" tenth-grade story and discovers that some dreams just aren't meant to be left in storage. Listen now for a witty and moving reflection on finishing what your younger self started.
Read Jenno Kane's first published short story, "Thanksgiving" in Arcturus, the literary magazine named after the...
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with this special "Straight Outta Ireland" edition of the Writers Read podcast. In this episode, we move beyond the myths to bring you raw, lyrical, true five-minute stories from a a lineup of literary heavyweights:
Malachy McCourt: The legendary storyteller and author of A Monk Swimming shares a characteristically sharp and soulful reflection.
Colin Broderick: The acclaimed filmmaker and author ...
What happens when a self-described "pants and baggy sweaters" girl gets nominated for an Oscar and invited to the Academy Awards? Between an outfit that's a walking wardrobe malfunction, and a showdown with the biggest movie of all time, the red carpet beneath Lynn Ahren's shoes feels like the entrance to a bullring.
Learn about legendary lyricist and composer Lynn Ahren’s work (Ragtime, Once On This Island, Anastasia) here:&n...
Long-time television writer and writing workshop instructor Wendy Goldman’s story is about an increasingly fraught relationship with her therapist, and the little nudges we sometimes need to make big decisions in life.
Born in Chicago, the daughter of a funny mother, Wendy would hop the El downtown to see lots of theatre and study improvisation at the historic Second City. She was hooked. Wendy began her career as an actress i...
In her story "I Could Tell You", professional writer and editor Darcey Gohring tells us something important about her past, with all the perspective of her present.
This episode of the Writers Read podcast was produced and hosted by Edward McCann, with engineering help from Victor Scoppa.
If you’re new to the show, welcome; we’re so glad you’re here! Find and follow us on Instagram, and please email us with voi...
What happens when your grandparents are nudists? Hunter Klein explores the surprisingly tender lessons left behind in this true personal story. For Hunter, the existential question is not so much what to wear and when, but what … not to.
Hunter Klein is a Brooklyn-based writer, producer, teacher, former little league umpire, and New York Jets fan.
This episode of the Writers Read podcast was produced and hosted by Edward McCa...
As a teenager, Jack O'Connell apprenticed at A&P in 1960s suburban Long Island, where he received an education in both meat-cutting and moral compromise from a crew of seasoned butchers and petty thieves.
Native New Yorker Jack O’Connell is a working actor with dozens of credits. You may recognize him from his roles in film and TV, among them Doubt, Big Night, Inside Llewyn Davis, Mad Men, Nurse Jackie, Vinyl, a...
An aspiring journalist recounts the night her father, a Black reporter in 1960s Georgia, returned drunk and devastated from covering the execution of an innocent Black man, then sobered up to make a difference.
It’s been said that genealogy is where you confuse the dead and irritate the living. Recorded live at City Winery NYC, this episode features three true stories about ancestory from writers Rhonda Zangwill, Jai Chakrabarti, and Isaiah Hunt — Plus, a meditation on the writing life from Lynn Lauber. Listen now or anytime. • To receive the series directly to your phone or smart speaker, subscribe wherever you get your podca...
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