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PODCAST

Selected Shorts

Our greatest actors transport us through the magic of fiction, one short story at a time. Sometimes funny. Always moving. Selected Shorts connects you to the world with a rich diversity of voices from literature, film, theater, and comedy. New episodes every Thursday, from Symphony Space.

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All Episodes

00:57:30

Elements of Nature

Selected Shorts ·

2024/03/07

Host Meg Wolitzer presentsfour works in which nature and the out-of-doors drive both plots and character. Humorist Jenny Allen does battle with her stubborn plants in “Garden Growing Pains,” read by Kirsten Vangsness. The majestic Canadian border separates an Indigenous family in Thomas King’s “Borders,” read by Kimberly Guerrero. A housewife masters one of the elements in “Flying,” by Alyce Miller.The reader is Kirsten Vangness again.And a sudden storm creates a sense of abandon in the Kate

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00:29:00

Too Hot for Radio: Erin Somers "Variations on the Same"

Selected Shorts ·

2024/03/04

This story is by the writer Erin Somers. She has a novel, Stay Up with Hugo Best, and has been published in The Paris Review, The New Yorker and elsewhere. Performing it, we've got two actors who found the funny with both the words and each other. The first, Paget Brewster, is best known for her role on Criminal Minds. Additionally, she has appeared on Friends, Community and Comedy Central’s Another Period. Playing off her is Andy Richter, known for his years on Conan and Late Night with Conan

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00:56:59

Extended Families

Selected Shorts ·

2024/02/29

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two works with unusual family dynamics. In Zadie Smith’s “Grand Union,” the mother-daughter bond transcends death and brings with it a whole family history. The reader is Kaneza Schaal. And Richard Bausch’s “What Feels Like the World,” read by James Naughton, explores the bond between a grandparent and a grandchild.

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00:58:04

Selected Shorts Goes to the Movies with the Tribeca...

Selected Shorts ·

2024/02/22

Host Meg Wolitzer presents stories so compelling that they were adapted for the screen. Selected Shorts and the prestigious Tribeca Festival collaborated and came up with three works that crossed the boundaries between fiction and film. An eerie game has unexpected consequences in Richard Matheson’s “Button, Button,” performed by Marin Ireland. The story inspired the horror film “The Box” starring Cameron Diaz and Frank Langella. Michael Stuhlbarg gives a rousing performance of Lewis Carroll’s

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00:58:29

Homewreckers

Selected Shorts ·

2024/02/15

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two humorous stories about marriages not made in heaven. In James Thurber’s classic “The Breaking Up of the Winships,” a long-married couple fall out over Donald Duck. The reader is Kristine Nielsen. And in Louise Erdrich’s “The Big Cat,” read by Keir Dullea, two powerful wives, a bemused husband, and a symphony of bone-jarring snores. The program also features an interview with Erdrich.

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00:14:52

Meg Wolitzer interviews Louise Erdrich

Selected Shorts ·

2024/02/15

In this bonus conversation, host Meg Wolitzer talks to author Louise Erdrich about her story; her writing life; and what do with left over index cards.

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00:58:12

Reality Checks

Selected Shorts ·

2024/02/08

Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories in which reality contrasts with the dreams, perceptions, and actions of the characters. In “The Leap,” by Louise Erdrich, a mother’s unusual skill set changes the outcome of events. The reader is Elizabeth Reaser. In “Death and the Lady,” by Ben Loory, even the Grim Reaper harbors illusions. And his parents’ damaged marriage haunts an adult child in Delmore Schwartz’s “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.” Both the Loory and the Schwartz are read by

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00:16:01

Bonus: Meg Wolitzer Talks to Denis O’Hare

Selected Shorts ·

2024/02/08

In this bonus conversation, host Meg Wolitzer talks to actor Denis O’Hare about his craft, and his approaches to readings of the two very different stories on this program.

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00:59:09

Hitched

Selected Shorts ·

2024/02/01

Host Meg Wolitzer presents three pieces about marriages that outlive the romance. In Etgar Keret’s “A World without Selfie Sticks,” performed by Tate Donovan, a man meets the woman of his dreams; but she’s from an alternate universe. “On the Honeymoon,” by Javier Marias, a husband has a strange encounter with a woman in the street. It’s read by Ivan Hernandez. And in Duncan Birmingham’s “The Cult In My Garage,” performed by Michaela Watkins, an old college buddy turns up, and he’s got a mission

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00:58:23

I Contain Multitudes

Selected Shorts ·

2024/01/25

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about complex characters and the many different roles they play in each other’s lives and in the world around us. Cherline Bazile’s “Tender,” which guest editor Min Jin Lee included in Best American Short Stories 2023, reflects the contradictory nature of friendship. It’s read by Anna Uzele. The show features Min Jin Lee’s on-stage remarks about the story and contemporary fiction. Our second story, Grace Paley’s “The Contest,” reflects the contradictory

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00:58:45

Bradbury Centennial with Neil Gaiman

Selected Shorts ·

2024/01/18

Host Meg Wolitzer presents a celebration of the great Ray Bradbury, master of science fiction and fantasy. Author Neil Gaiman, who hosted a live event at Symphony Space dedicated to Bradbury, elaborates on the program’s stories that demonstrate Bradbury’s imagination and humanism. In “There Will Come Soft Rains,” a smart home is all that’s left in the wake of devastation—and it can’t stop working. The reader is Yetide Badaki. Javier Munoz performs “The Fog Horn,” which presents a creature of

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00:58:24

Truly, Madly

Selected Shorts ·

2024/01/11

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about the course of true love, from two very different perspectives. Sigrid Nunez explores a roller-coaster romance in a small town in “This Is It,” performed by Christina Pickles, and Simon Rich offers up Stone-Age love and humor in a small cave in “I Love Girl.” It’s performed by Michael Ian Black, who also chats with Wolitzer about what he’s been reading and the tricky business of being funny.

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00:18:45

Too Hot for Radio: James Hannaham "Cookie Monster...

Selected Shorts ·

2024/01/08

"Cookie Monster Shares" was performed by actor and comedian Baron Vaughn at SketchFest in San Francisco, CA. The story was written by James Hannaham, the PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of sharp satires including Delicious Foods and Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta. (Which, an objectively great title that really paints a picture.) Hannaham's sharp satires take no prisoners—even in the seemingly innocuous context of a story narrated by the one and only Cookie Monster. Episode

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00:58:51

You've Lost It

Selected Shorts ·

2024/01/04

Host Meg Wolitzer presents three pieces about losing things: objects, opportunities, a primary sense, a new friendship. In “Any Other” by Jac Jemc, performed by Helen Hong, a woman rejects an offer without knowing the consequences. Namwali Serpell’s “Noseless” is about a loss many experienced during the pandemic; it’s performed by Kyrstina Alabado, Deborah S. Craig, Zach Grenier, and Calvin Leon Smith. And Lauren Groff’s “Such Small Islands” charts the perilous course of a childhood infatuation and

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00:39:31

Too Hot for Radio: Jen Spyra "The Secret Meeting of...

Selected Shorts ·

2023/10/30

Jen Spyra has worked in nearly every kind of comedy there is: penning stories for The Onion, writing skits and one-liners as a staff writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, contributing pieces to The New Yorker and McSweeney's, and taking the stage for improv at UCB Theatre in Manhattan. Her story comes from her first short story collection, Big Time. It's performed by Mary Lynn Rajskub. She's someone with so many fun credits it's hard to pick: 24, Mr. Show, Punch Drunk Love and, who could

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00:15:56

Bonus: Meg Wolitzer Visits Her Favorite Indie Bookstore

Selected Shorts ·

2023/06/29

Host Meg Wolitzer visits a favorite indie bookstore, Three Lives & Company in Greenwich Village, remembers her early years there as a writer and reader, and is let in on some trade secrets.

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00:17:54

Bonus: Margaret Atwood and A.M. Homes

Selected Shorts ·

2023/06/15

In this bonus conversation, writers Margaret Atwood and A.M. Homes discuss everything from feminism, time, writing and dystopian fiction, to Atwood’s new short story collection “Old Babes in the Wood.” The interview was recorded in front of a live audience at Symphony Space.

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00:09:12

Bonus: Meg Wolitzer Talks to Alison Stewart

Selected Shorts ·

2023/06/08

In this bonus conversation, host and best-selling author, Meg Wolitzer, talks to host of WNYC’s All of It, Alison Stewart. Wolitzer reveals some of the secrets to great writing and the two share their own reading habits and thoughts about the importance of fiction.

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00:12:18

Bonus: Meg Wolitzer Talks to Patricia Marx

Selected Shorts ·

2023/02/09

In this bonus conversation, host Meg Wolitzer talks to friend and New Yorker humorist Patricia Marx about her story “Singin’ in the Acid Rain,” and writing funny.

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00:20:15

Bonus: Meg Wolitzer Talks with George Saunders

Selected Shorts ·

2023/01/12

In this bonus conversation, host Meg Wolitzer talks to friend and Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders about crafting short stories, where ideas come from, and how his work has evolved over the years.

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