Selected Shorts

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two works about losing something, but finding something revealing to take its place.  In “Light,” by Lesley Nkeka Arimah, parents differ about how to raise a strong-willed daughter.  The reader is Crystal Dickinson.  And in Taryn Bowe’s “Camp Emeline,” performed by Edie Falco, a family struggles after a loss, but grief leads to self-discovery for the determined...

Erin Somers is an author we've featured twice on Too Hot in the past, making her the first three-timer in the history of Too Hot! She's the author of the novels Stay Up with Hugo Best and The Ten Year Affair; the latter originated as a short story of the same title, which we did read on Too Hot. She's quite good at finding new ways to articulate the twists and turns of romantic relationships, as this story confirms. Reading this pi...

In this program, created in collaboration with Waterwell and the New York Immigration Coalition, guest host Arian Moayed takes listeners through a live performance of thirteen stories and one song that vividly bring to life the vital role immigrants play in New York City's past, present and future. Here are their names:  Mary Twomey, Sara M., Zead Ramadan and Andy Eng, Mónica Carrillo, S...

Host Meg Wolitzer presents three works from an evening with New Yorker author and cartoonist Roz Chast, inspired by Chast’s book I Must be Dreaming.  “The Wife on Ambien,” by Ed Park, is a sort of late-night fever dream.  It’s read by John Fugelsang.  In Tessa Hadley’s “Bad Dreams,” images than begin in dreams envelop a family in real life.The reader is Rita Wolf.&n...

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two O. Henry Prize-winning stories, from the volume guest edited by Edward P. Jones.  The Prize was created in honor of the 19th-century writer best known for slyly humorous stories like “The Ransom of Red Chief” and “Gift of the Magi,” but contemporary selections range wide.  In “Rosaura at Dawn,” by Daniel Saldaña París, a woman searches for new li...

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two unconventional love stories, one classic, one contemporary, that avoid the usual tropes of “meet cute,” “opposites attract,” or “happily ever after” but are still engaging.  In “Love in the Slump,” by Evelyn Waugh, clueless upper-crust newlyweds are sent on a comic odyssey.  The reader is Jane Kaczmarek.  And Esther Yi’s &l...

In the second of two programs created with the podcast Death, Sex, and Money and our live event host Anna Sale, we explore issues of happiness.  Host Meg Wolitzer introduces a satirical romance by Oscar Wilde (did he write any other kind?).  “The Model Millionaire” is read by Peter Francis James.  In Kevin Brockmeier’s “Space,” a grieving widower and his son try to get past their loss, l...

In the first of two programs created with the podcast Death, Sex, and Money and host Anna Sale, we explore issues of identity and connection.  In “Sacrament of Confession,” by Ernie Wang, a man struggles with a messy past that is affecting the present.  The reader is Richard Kind.  And in a touching do-over, a man meets his wife for the first time—again.Amy Ryan reads Seth Fried’s “You A...

Today's story is all about what happens when you become infatuated with someone you don't really know. And what strange or scary things you might do in order to make real contact with that person. The story is also about youth, love of language, and what you do with all your passion when you have more energy than you know what to do with.  This story is by Jonathan Lethem. He's a writer known for novels such as Motherless Broo...

In a wide-ranging and fascinating discussion, the two authors sit down to discuss journalism, the #MeToo movement, the Supreme Court, and what it takes to tell a good story. Jodi Kantor is a best-selling author and prize-winning investigative reporter whose work reveals hidden truths about power, law, gender, technology and culture. She is the bestselling co-author of She Said, the book that details the story of decades of sexual a...

This story is one from our archives, by Paul La Farge. Pay attention because the author delivers lots of little hints about what is happening behind the scenes—to the protagonist, and the peripheral characters, too. But it isn't clear until the very last moments of the story exactly what kind of a story we've been listening to. La Farge is the author of novels including Luminous Airplanes and The Night Ocean. He unfortunately...

Written by Carmen Maria Machado, the dark, inventive and sensual writer behind the collection Her Body and Other Parties, and the memoir In the Dream House, this story, “Persephone Rides at the End of Days," was commissioned for the Selected Shorts anthology Small Odysseys. It's about a Greek goddess coming to terms with who and what she is. Is her name, meaning "bringer of death," her fate? Or will she channel the other side...

Symphony Space was thrilled to host an evening with Israeli writer Etgar Keret, whose stories we’ve featured many times on Selected Shorts. He was interviewed by his longtime friend, and host of This American Life, Ira Glass. In this condensed version of their talk, they playfully challenge each other on a wide range of topics, some political, some creative, but mainly about what it’s like to live in these uncertain tim...

Meg Wolitzer sits down with her friend, writer Michael Cunningham. Michael is an American novelist, screenwriter, and educator. He is best known for his novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award and was later adapted into an Oscar-winning film and opera. What happens when two writers get together? Well, of course, they talk about writing, specifically his story, “Jacked,” read ...

The host of Selected Shorts, Meg Wolitzer launches the spin-off podcast, Tell Me More. If you know Selected Shorts you know that we're obsessed with stories. This new show will give us the chance to talk about many different kinds of stories—not just fiction! In the future, we'll talk to actors and journalists and, who knows, scientists, visual artists, even chefs. Creative people all tell stories of some kind, and this is ou...