Selected Shorts
231 episodes - English - Latest episode: 17 days ago - ★★★★ - 2.5K ratingsOur 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.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
No Place Like Home: Best American Short Stories
March 18, 2021 17:00 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBGuest host Maulik Pancholy presents two selections from the 2018 Best American Short Stories anthology, with comments by guest editor, Roxane Gay. In “Suburbia,” by Amy Silverberg, a young girl leaves home for the first time, and both she, and it, are transformed. The reader is Martha Plimpton. “Everything is Far from Here,” by Cristina Henriquez, goes to the heart of the country’s immigration crisis with an affecting portrait of a migrant mother and her son. It’s performed by Zabryna G...
Little Rebellions
March 11, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 55 MBGuest host Roxane Gay presents three stories about resisting the inevitable, and testing the status quo. The title tells all in Haruki Murakami’s “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning,” read by Randall Park. A girl is tutored in fly tying by her father in Elizabeth Winthrop’s “The Golden Darters,” read by Ann Dowd, and a boy disappoints his wizard parents in “The Accountant,” by Robert Sheckley, read by Nate Corddry. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.or...
Too Hot For Radio: Kirsty Gunn "Dangerous Dog"
March 08, 2021 23:48 - 35 minutes - 32.7 MBRead by actress Kirsten Vangsness, this Jane Eyre fan fiction imagines Mr. Rochester as a pit bull. After the story, host Aparna Nancherla talks to Jane Eyre expert, author Patricia Park, about the enduring allure of Charlotte Brontë's novel. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dance in America
March 04, 2021 18:00 - 57 minutes - 52.5 MBGuest host Jane Kaczmarek presents works celebrating dance. A domineering mother uses an evening at the ballet to find fault in "My Mother Explains the Ballet to Me,” by Jesse Eisenberg, performed by Patricia Kalember. A pioneering African-American dancer remembers an audition in “Léonide Massine,” by Janet Collins, performed by Carmen de Lavallade. A magical garment transforms its owner in “The Cape,” by Ben Loory, performed by Tony Yazbeck. And the “Tango” undermines a stuffy WASP communi...
There's More to the Story
February 25, 2021 18:00 - 59 minutes - 54.9 MBGuest host Maulik Pancholy presents four tales with unexpected twists and turns. We begin with his reading of “Riding Solo,” Simon Rich’s re-telling of the Paul Revere legend. An Italian holiday offers revelations to a group of tourists in Laura van den Berg’s “The Cult of Mary,” performed by Colby Minifie; Philip K. Dick’s “The Eyes Have It,” has a joke at the expense of a literal-minded reader; Paul Giamatti performs. And two masters meet in Carmen de Lavallade’s reading of Alice Walker’...
Courtship and What Comes After
February 18, 2021 18:00 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MBGuest host Jane Curtin offers up tales of courtship and its consequences. In “Prince Amilec,” by Tanith Lee, a handsome prince pursues a beautiful princess, but it’s not the same old, same old fairy tale. Gildart Jackson performs. A couple explores their relationship in a humorous piece by A.M. Homes. “Be Mine” is performed by Sanjit De Silva and Adina Verson. And in “The Idea of Marcel,” by Marie-Helene Bertino, a breakup leads ex lovers to reboot each other. It’s performed by Jenna Ushkowi...
Unexpected Endings
February 11, 2021 18:00 - 59 minutes - 54.7 MBGuest host Kevin Kwan presents two stories with unexpected twists. In Italo Calvino’s satirical fantasy, “A General in the Library” a military tribunal investigates seditious books. Selected Shorts’ late host and founder Isaiah Sheffer is the reader. Old friends reunite—and revisit their shared past—in Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever,” performed by Bebe Neuwirth. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...
Not Quite Human
February 04, 2021 18:00 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MBGuest host John Darnielle presents two of his favorite weird stories. In Amparo Davila’s “Moses and Gaspar,” a grieving man has inherited two—creatures—from his dead brother. But what in the world are they? Peter Jay Fernandez reads. A slick salesman has a little something extra up his sleeve in Dennis Etchison’s “The Pitch,” read by Michael Shannon. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Too Hot for Radio: Tony Tulathimutte "Saint Pantaleone"
February 02, 2021 23:07 - 20 minutes - 19 MBOur story today addresses, or should I say undresses - why snacking on your underwear might not be all that’s promised on the box. In this hilarious story written by Tony Tulathimutte, the narrator, played by actor Maulik Pancholy, is taking on the edible underpants industry. Later host Aparna Nancherla talks to the author about the inspiration for his story. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...
Distance Learning
January 28, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 55.9 MBGuest host Roxane Gay presents three works about considering people and feelings at a distance. Italian fabulist Italo Calvino observes young love on the slopes in “The Adventure of a Skier,” performed by James Naughton. In Edwidge Danticat’s “New York Day Women” a daughter watches her mother walking through Manhattan. The reader is Laurine Towler. And the James Baldwin grapples with what it means to be an American in "Notes for a Hypothetical Novel," performed by Brandon J. Dirden. Join...
Sex and Vanity
January 21, 2021 18:00 - 58 minutes - 53.8 MBGuest host, Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan presents stories on themes he’s been interested in ever since F. Scott Fitzgerald inspired him to start writing as a teen—the nature of privilege, and the obsession with appearance and social status. In “Little Miss International Goodwill” by Doretta Lau, a young girl doesn’t seem to fit in at home or at school. The story is performed by Annie Q. Virginia Woolf elegantly weighs the balance of power between an aristocrat and a merchant in “The ...
On the Trail
January 14, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 60.6 MBGuest host Jordan Klepper (The Daily Show) presents a colorful and diverse collection of works that look at Presidential elections, warts and all. Roy Wood Jr. performs Mark Twain’s outrageous confessional “A Presidential Candidate.” Samantha Bee reads from Molly Ivins’ “Our Boy George.” Crystal Dickinson performs an excerpt from Unbought and Unbossed, the memoir of America’s first Black Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. Washington columnist Alexandra Petri offers a Samuel Beckett pastiche...
Truth and Consequences with A.M. Homes and T.C. Boyle
January 07, 2021 18:00 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBGuest host Jane Curtin presents provocative stories by T.C. Boyle and A.M. Homes, who comment on their craft as part of the show. In Boyle’s “Top of the Food Chain,” a government program wreaks havoc with Mother Nature. It’s performed by Zach Grenier. In “A Prize for Every Player,” Homes locates a charming family fantasy in a big box store. Jane Curtin is the reader. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for p...
Too Hot For Radio: Stories by Rachel Engelman and Peter McCleery
January 04, 2021 15:47 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MBHost Aparna Nancherla introduces two stories: "Joan of Arc Sits Naked on Her Dorm Room Floor,” by Rachel Engelman, performed by actor Adina Verson, and the satirical “Casual Sexism Fridays” by Peter McCleery performed by our host at a SketchFest performance in San Francisco. Later in the episode, Aparna chats with Chris Monks, the editor for the humor site McSweeney's, about why he published the McCleery story and what goes into their selection process. Join and give!: https://donatenow.netw...
Rituals
December 31, 2020 18:00 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBGuest host Hope Davis presents two stories about rituals. A young author takes a glamorous older woman to lunch and all does not go well in “The Luncheon” by Jeffrey Archer, performed by Jefferson Mays. And host Davis performs Amy Bloom’s touching story “Love is Not a Pie,” in which family secrets, and family bonds, are shared after a funeral. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Rituals GUEST HOST: HOPE DAVIS
December 31, 2020 18:00 - 57 minutes - 52.6 MBGuest host Hope Davis presents two stories about rituals. A young author takes a glamorous older woman to lunch and all does not go well in “The Luncheon” by Jeffrey Archer, performed by Jefferson Mays. And host Davis performs Amy Bloom’s touching story “Love is Not a Pie,” in which family secrets, and family bonds, are shared after a funeral. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I Did It My Way
December 17, 2020 18:00 - 57 minutes - 52.4 MBGuest host Kirsten Vangsness presents four works about fame, celebrity, show biz, and what it takes to survive them. First, actor Cole Escola channels the legendary Joan Crawford in an excerpt from her autobiography, My Way of Life. Author Zadie Smith channels the dauntless spirit of Billie Holiday in “Crazy They Call Me,” performed by Karen Pittman. Will Eno’s “Interview" is a freewheeling monologue which offers both sides of an extensive and confessional outpouring performed by the author. ...
Rites of Passage: Stories from The Paris Review
December 10, 2020 18:00 - 57 minutes - 53 MBGuest host Robert Sean Leonard presents stories from the legendary literary magazine The Paris Review. Umberto Eco has a really big fish in “How to Travel with a Salmon,” read by Jin Ha. A mother mourns her son with his difficult friends in “Marabou,” by Joy Williams, read by Michael Emerson. In George Fox’s “The Twenty-Sixth Second” a WWII veteran has a secret. It’s read by Linda Lavin. And host Leonard finishes up with a story set on the day of the Nazi occupation of Paris, “The Hat,” ...
Too Hot For Radio: Becky Mandelbaum "Queen of England"
December 01, 2020 19:42 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBActor Robin Lord Taylor (You, Gotham) performs a story about a single mom with two unruly sons. And later in the podcast, host Aparna Nancherla talks to Sarah Thyre about how she chose this story for a night at Selected Shorts. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Modern Fables
November 26, 2020 18:00 - 58 minutes - 53.2 MBGuest host Kirsten Vangsness presents two contemporary fables. First, Michael Cunningham reimagines the Hans Christian Andersen class “A Wild Swan,” in a reading by Valorie Curry. Next, an excerpt from George Saunders’ touching and hilarious novella, Fox 8, read by John Cameron Mitchell. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Look Again
November 12, 2020 18:00 - 58 minutes - 53.4 MBGuest host Maulik Pancholy presents two stories in which young protagonists have their lives altered by acts of perception. A ten-year old girl takes a care-free walk in the woods in Alice Walker’s “The Flowers,” but the blossoms she finds conceal something darker. The reader is Crystal Dickinson. Ethan Canin’s “Star Food,” read by David Strathairn, is a coming-of-age story involving a boy at the edge of manhood, his parents, the family store--and the cosmos. Join and give!: https://don...
Only Human: Anton Chekhov
November 05, 2020 18:00 - 58 minutes - 53.4 MBGuest host Jane Curtin presents works by Anton Chekhov that were part of a celebration sponsored by Columbia University and hosted by Chekhov scholar Laura Strausfeld. We’ll hear “A Drama,” performed by Cynthia Nixon—an ambitious writer overwhelms her idol; “Rapture,” performed by Robin Miles, Sam Underwood, Rainn Wilson, and Di Zhu—a young man enjoys his 15 minutes of fame; “Which is Better?,” performed by Rainn Wilson—Chekhov debates the merits of schools vs. pubs; and “Verotchka,” perform...
It's a Sign
October 29, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.4 MBGuest host Maulik Pancholy presents two stories in which unexpected encounters and visitations result in new love. In Ana Menéndez’s “Story of a Parrot,” a colorful bird revives a grey marriage. The reader is Jacqueline Kim. Russian Nobel Laureate Ivan Bunin penned a delicate story of an unexpected romance between a man with a wound in his soul and a waitress. “In Paris” is read by the late Rene Auberjonois. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splas...
Improbable Dreams
October 15, 2020 17:00 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBGuest host Hope Davis presents three improbable stories: in “The Orange,” by Benjamin Rosenbaum, a citrus fruit rules the world. The read is John Cameron Mitchell. In “The Man, The Restaurant, and the Eiffel Tower,” by Ben Loory, performed by Stana Katic, a father’s children conspire to make him happy. In “I, Gentile,” by David Gordon, performed by Michael Urie, a reluctant Jew falls in love with the wrong girl. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=S...
Home Cooking with Food52
October 01, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.6 MBGuest host Hope Davis presents three shows about food, cooking, and company, curated with the online foodie destination Food52: "Feeding the Fussy," by Laurie Colwin, performed by Tracee Chimo; "Home Turf," by Kiran Desai, performed by Angel Desai; and "Watkyn, Comma," by Joan Aiken, performed by Sonia Manzano. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Too Hot For Radio: Simon Rich "Guy Walks into a Bar"
September 29, 2020 21:26 - 14 minutes - 13.6 MBHumor writer Simon Rich reimagines a classic joke for The New Yorker. After the reading by actor Michael Urie, Rich talks to host Aparna Nancherla about how this hilarious, and somewhat dirty piece, made it to print and went viral. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Outsiders
September 17, 2020 17:00 - 59 minutes - 54 MBGuest host Denis O’Hare introduces two stories about outsiders. A tutor finds her privileged teenage client mystifying in Kyle McCarthy’s “Ancient Rome,” read by Tavi Gevinson. In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The Thing Around Your Neck,” a young Nigerian woman comes to America for the first time, and it’s not what she imagined. The story is read by Condola Rashad. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...
Try This On: Stories from an Evening with New York Magazine’s The Cut
September 10, 2020 17:00 - 59 minutes - 54.6 MBGuest host Cynthia Nixon presents stories from New York Magazine’s online portal “The Cut,” which combines art, journalism, and the kind of fresh contemporary fiction that speaks to us. On this show, a woman tries on different identities, as well as clothes, in a dress shop fitting room, in “Fully Zipped” by Shelly Oria, performed by Katja Blichfeld. A new mother can’t seem to get the hang of breastfeeding in Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Bad Latch,” performed by Justine Lupe. And Parker Posey tac...
Ways of Seeing
August 27, 2020 17:00 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBGuest host Maulik Pancholy presents two works about how we look at things. An independent woman, an IRS auditor, and a dog share a moment—and a poem--in “Yancey,” by Ann Beattie, read by Mia Dillon. In “The Mappist,” by Barry Lopez, a geographer is on the trail of a mysterious map maker. Joe Spano reads. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Too Hot For Radio: Judy Grahn : "The Psychoanalysis of Edward the Dyke"
August 24, 2020 20:50 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBBecca Blackwell reads “The Psychoanalysis of Edward the Dyke,” by Judy Grahn. Hosted by Michael Ian Black. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I Do, I Do
August 06, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.3 MBGuest host Jane Curtin presents two stories about marriage. A theatrical union is subtly tested in Bruce Jay Friedman’s “Any Number of Little Old Ladies,” performed by Blythe Danner and Maulik Pancholy. And love is stretched thin, but rebounds, in Roxana Robinson’s “In Naples,” read by Betty Buckley. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Best Intentions
July 30, 2020 17:00 - 59 minutes - 54 MBGuest host Cynthia Nixon presents two stories in which people go overboard to demonstrate their devotion. In Robin Hemley’s “A Printer’s Tale,” a poet’s boyfriend hijacks a national magazine for her love--and one reader isn’t pleased. Reader Robert Sean Leonard brings an eccentric trio to life. In “Oh Shenandoah,” by Maura Stanton, a determined young woman wants to call it quits with her overzealous fiancé. But they’re in Venice—and there’s this toilet seat problem. Broadway powerhouse ...
Too Hot For Radio: Brit Bennett "Ain't That Good News"
July 28, 2020 11:45 - 36 minutes - 33 MBA story by the writer Brit Bennett, "Ain't That Good News" is tender, sad, and packs a wallop. You'll be completely hooked. Bennett's debut novel The Mothers made a splash in 2016 (soon to be a movie starring Kerry Washington), the same year she was named one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35.” Her new novel, The Vanishing Half, published in June, is already a New York Times bestseller and has garnered reviews like, "This is sure to be one of 2020’s best and boldest," Elle, and B...
Past and Future
July 16, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.3 MBGuest host Maulik Pancholy presents a show about the past, the future, and how time flies. A young actor recalls critical moments in her childhood in Elizabeth Strout’s “Snow Blind,” read by Melora Hardin. Old schoolmates almost hook up in Joyce Carol Oates’ “August Evening,” read by Sonia Manzano. In our final story, a lifetime goes by in “Half a Day,” by Naguib Mahfooz, read by Bruce Altman. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.
Journeys, Memories, and Miracles: Italian Short Stories
July 09, 2020 17:00 - 1 hour - 56.4 MBGuest host Hope Davis presents a program of Italian short fiction selected by the novelist and short-story writer Jhumpa Lahiri. The stories were drawn from The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories, which Lahiri edited. They range from the comic to the fantastical. In Leonardo Sciascia’s “The Long Voyage,” hopeful peasants try to make it to a mysterious place called “Trenton.” The reader is John Turturro. A couple hopes to restore pre-World War II elegance in “Invitation to Dinner,” by A...
Celebrating Toni Morrison
July 02, 2020 17:00 - 1 hour - 67.6 MBGuest host Tayari Jones helps us to celebrate this American master, who died in 2019. Her novels, including Beloved, Jazz and Song of Solomon, have become an indelible part of the American canon. Her fierce, poetic visions earned her the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was also an editor, advocate, teacher, and mother. This program features her essay “A Knowing So Deep,” read by Jones; an excerpt from The Bluest Eye, read by Anika Noni Rose; an ...
Too Hot For Radio: Mona Simpson "Wrong Object"
June 29, 2020 21:59 - 46 minutes - 42.9 MBMona Simpson is the author of six books including Anywhere But Here, My Hollywood and Casebook. Her Too Hot For Radio story features a therapist, a patient, and one uniquely inappropriate relationship.This story was originally published in Harper’s and selected by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All The Light You Cannot See, Anthony Doerr, for The Best American Short Stories 2019 for which he served as the guest editor. Read by the incomparable Cynthia Nixon, the story can be described a...
Shout it Out: The Stonewall Uprising at 50
June 25, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.4 MBGuest host Denis O’Hare helps us mark the landmark event that helped give birth to the modern movement for LGBTQIA+ rights in America. We first hear eyewitness accounts of the riots, drawn from The Stonewall Reader. Additional works include Perry Brass’s “We Did It”; poems by Kay Ulanday Barrett; and Gary Eldon Peter’s story “Wedding.” Readers include Ivory Aquino, Kate Bornstein, Michael Early, Beth Malone, Kay Ulanday Barrett, and John Benjamin Hickey.
ESCALATION
June 18, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MBGuest host Hope Davis presents two stories in which things get out of hand. Rumors and recriminations fly in “Belles Lettres,” by Nafissa Thompson-Spires, as rival mothers defend their daughters’ reputations at a posh school--at any cost. The readers are Eboni Booth, Shalewa Sharpe, and Mary Karr. And we hear Shirley Jackson’s lighter side in “About Two Nice People,” in which neighbors seem to be getting mixed messages from one another. The readers are Lilli Cooper, Ethan Slater, and J...
Not Your Mother’s Love Stories
June 11, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.6 MBGuest host Dennis O’Hare presents two unorthodox love stories at a time when we could all use a little love. British writer Jane Gardam twists Hans Christian Andersen’s tale in a saucy reboot of “The Little Mermaid.” Her version, “The Pangs of Love,” is read by Jane Kaczmarek. And Sharon Gless performs “Hat Trick,” by Edith Pearlman, in which four young girls choose husbands by chance.
More Funny Favorites from Andy Borowitz
June 04, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MBGuest host Andy Borowitz intros four hilarious pieces featured in his anthology The 50 Funniest American Writers. James Naughton reads S.J. Perelman’s noir parody “Farewell, My Lovely Appetizer;” Susan Orlean complains about idle tots in “Shiftless Little Loafers,” read by Dave Hill; old-time radio is revealed in Jean Shepherd’s “The Counterfeit Secret Circle Member Gets the Message,” read by Isaiah Sheffer; and one woman’s all-nighter, in Jenny Allen’s “Awake,” read by Jane Kaczmarek.
Too Hot For Radio: Stories by Elizabeth Crane and Michael Czyniejewski
May 31, 2020 14:03 - 26 minutes - 24.6 MBOur friend Michael Ian Black is back to host a twofer Too Hot For Radio episode. First up is actor K. Todd Freeman reading“Pregnant with Peanut Butter” by Michael Czyniejewski. Czyniejewski is the author of three story collections, including Our Bedroom and I Will Love You for the Rest of My Life: Breakup Stories. Performing this story is an actor known for everything from multiple appearances on Broadway to Buffy the Vampire SlayertoA Series of Unfortunate Events. Elizabeth Crane is the au...
Surprises
May 28, 2020 17:00 - 59 minutes - 54.1 MBGuest host Jane Kaczmarek presents three stories with surprising twists and turns, a reminder that surprises can still be entertaining, even though the world has changed in unpredictable ways. A wife finds something unexpected in her local thrift shop in “Second Hand,” by Andres Neuman. The story is performed by Kaczmarek. Dawn Powell’s “Dinner on the Rocks” is an elegant comedy of bad manners, performed by Christina Pickles. And the salesman in Hubert Selby Jr.’s “Fortune Cookie” thinks ...
I Am America
May 21, 2020 17:00 - 59 minutes - 54.8 MBGuest host Maulik Pancholy presents stories, essays, and poems, and speeches celebrating America’s diversity and wealth of stories, at a time when we need to know we are together, even when we are apart. An aging father ponders his life in Elizabeth Strout’s “The Walk,” read by Ellen Burstyn. The whole country’s talking in Susan Minot’s “Listen,” read by Jennifer Ikeda and Khris Lewin. Julia Alvarez faces prejudice and finds her voice in “Speak! Speak!” read by Selenis Leyva, and Henry Lou...
Fractured Fairy Tales
May 14, 2020 17:00 - 59 minutes - 54.7 MBGuest host Jane Kaczmarek presents two stories based on fairy tales. We need good stories more than ever now. Traditional fairy tales always have a lesson, and these new versions are guaranteed to offer up some pearls about staying strong in difficult times. First, a story about an unconventional princess. Jane Kaczmarek performs Jeanne Desy’s “The Princess Who Stood On Her Own 2 Feet.” And Brazilian feminist writer Clarice Lispector shares a wealthy woman’s moment of truth in “Beauty a...
What Strangers See
May 07, 2020 17:00 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBIn this time of sheltering, we think one of the things that’s magical about short stories is that they bring the world to you. On this program, guest host Michael Cerveris presents two stories about the difference between what other people observe about us, and who we actually are. Even though we’re all mostly “home alone” right now, these pieces remind us that when we are out in the world, our inner and outer selves can be very different. Cerveris reads “Riding the Doghouse,” a great com...
Funny Favorites from Andy Borowitz
April 30, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.7 MBGoodness knows we could all use a laugh right now. So this week we’re offering a Selected Shorts program full of funny stories selected by Andy Borowitz, who’s funny in so many ways. The late columnist Molly Ivins sticks it to pompous politicians in “Tough as Bob War and Other Stuff,” performed by Judith Ivey. Essayist Sloane Crosley reveals a shameful habit in “The Pony Problem,” performed by Kirsten Vangsness. Parker Posey delivers a classic Dorothy Parker rant (two Parkers, no waiting) ...
Too Hot For Radio: Hilary Mantel "The Long QT"
April 27, 2020 20:00 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBWe're rebroadcasting one of our earlier episodes in honor of the long-awaited publication of The Mirror & the Light, author Hilary Mantel's final chapter of the trilogy she began with her peerless, Booker Prize-winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. We found this story in her often wicked short story collection The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher. “The Long QT” features a standard, modern-day dilemma that delivers an entirely unexpected sort of fright at the end. Host Aparna N...
Food Fights with Food52
April 23, 2020 17:00 - 57 minutes - 53 MBIn honor of the human impulse to seek culinary comfort when times are tough, guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents two food-centered stories curated with the online food and cooking community Food52. In J. Robert Lennon’s “Breadman,” artisanal bread threatens a marriage. Kyle MacLachlan is the incredulous spouse. And Joan Allen performs an excerpt from Nora Ephron’s novel Heartburn, a slice of infidelity in which there are consequences—and pie.
Sweet and Sour
April 16, 2020 17:00 - 58 minutes - 54 MBThe stories on this program, hosted by Jane Kaczmarek, start out in one place and end up somewhere completely different. Which pretty much describes our world at the moment. The three authors also talk about how people connect—something that seems important right now. Colin Nissan’s “Wedding Announcement” escalates comically in the reading by John Cameron Mitchell. A wary housewife is surprised by beauty in Michel Faber’s “The Eyes of the Soul,’ performed by Kirsten Vangsness, and teena...