Selected Shorts
by Symphony Space
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.
Episodes
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Charming Devils
Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about persuasive, but not always trustworthy, characters. In “Fortune-Telling,” by Alix Ohlin, an actor tries on new role, with unexpected consequences. The reader is Crystal Dickinson. And from an evening of contemporary Irish fiction, the great Jessica Lange…
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Unexpected Guests
Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about unexpected guests. In Carlos Greaves’ “A Visit from the Tune Squad,” a procrastinating writer gets a surprise intervention, in performances by Santino Fontana, Dylan Marron, and Sarah Mezzanotte. In our second story, Willa Cather delivers a moving tale of…
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Mostly Good Intentions
Meg Wolitzer presents three stories that explore good intentions and how they can go wrong. In “Mantis,” by Gina Chung, a deadly insect tries to mend her ways. The reader is Monica Raymund. Dino Buzzati’s “The Jacket,” translated from the Italian by Lawrence Venuti, features a garment that just...
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Fitting In
Meg Wolitzer presents three stories in that explore the idea of “fitting in,” and whether it’s worth the effort. In “Reality,” by Diana Spechler, a woman longs for the ephemeral glory of a reality show. It’s read by Kirsten Vangsness. “Long Hair,” by Uche Okonkwo, performed by Karen Pittman,...
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Too Hot For Radio: Austin Blaze "Hail Mary"
On this episode, a story about bad behavior. But it's also about family and the limits of forgiveness. While this story wasn't written that long ago, due to technological advancements, it feels like a piece of the past. Just 10, even 5 years ago, you had to know a character they called a "bookie"...
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Passport to Ireland with Colum McCann
On this Selected Shorts, host Meg Wolitzer invites us on a literary tour of Ireland with bestselling author Colum McCann, who hosted a live event at Symphony Space celebrating the rich heritage of Irish literature, and some gifted contemporary voices. The program includes, “Lucy’s Boyfriend,” a...
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The New American West
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two works that reassess and redefine our ideas of “the West.” It’s both a landscape of awesome beauty, and the scene of cultural appropriation, and we’ve got two masters sharing and shaping our experience. In Louise Erdrich’s “The Hollow Children” a natural disaster…
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Love and UFOs
Meg Wolitzer presents two stories that combine different sorts of unknowables: unidentified—or hard to identify—flying objects, and romantic love. In “The Duck,” by Ben Loory, a heartsick mallard has chosen a really unattainable object of affection. The reader, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts…
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A Full Plate
Meg Wolitzer presents two favorite Selected Shorts works in which food and nourishment figure both literally and symbolically. The narrator of Haruki Murakami’s “The Year of Spaghetti” seems to be just sharing pasta recipes, but it’s the recipe for assuaging loneliness that may elude him. The...
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Forsaking All Others
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two works about love and marriage. In Amy Silverberg’s “Have You Met Husband?” two men and a dog vie for this title. The reader is Molly Bernard. And Mary Gordon’s “The Magician’s Wife” is a touching portrait of life-long devotion—a kind of magic itself. The reader is...
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Tim Curry Performs "Ziggurat" by Stephen O'Connor
British actor Tim Curry died on August 26th at the age of 80. Celebrated for his infamous portrayal of Frank-N-Furter in the musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show, his decades-long career included many other roles on stage and screen. Among them, Mozart in Amadeus; King Arthur in the Monty Python...
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Building Worlds, with N.K. Jemisin
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three works of speculative fiction curated by best-selling author N.K. Jemisin. In John Scalzi’s “When the Yogurt Took Over” a popular breakfast staple decides it’s good for everyone. The reader in Jin Ha. Chatbots and A.I. can be helpful—but sometimes too helpful--as…
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Up in the Air with Radiolab
SELECTED SHORTS host Meg Wolitzer presents four works that were read as part of our live evening with WNYC’s Radiolab and hosts Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser.The theme was flight in many imaginative manifestations. Randa Jarrar’s “The Lunatics’ Eclipse” is a fable-like story of romance and...
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Seeing is Believing
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about perception and the relationship between what we see and what we believe. In “Heart of a Champion,” T.C. Boyle gives the children’s classic Lassie an affectionately humorous reboot. The reader is Kirsten Vangsness. In Jamel Brinkley’s “The Let-Out,” an...
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Romance of the Summer
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three lively stories about the allure—or not—of summer. Italian writer Massimo Bontempeli creates a magical beach inside an apartment in “The Miraculous Beach, or Prize for Modesty.” The work was translated by Jenny McPhee and is read by Hugh Dancy.Humorist Samantha…
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Shifting Identities
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two works about shifting identities. In “Voices”, by German writer Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Carol Brown Janeway, a computer technician’s mobile phone takes over his life—and not in the usual way.The reader is David Costabile.Writer Chika Unigwe sets a subtle story...
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Picture Perfect
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three works about idealized lives, and ideas about what constitutes an ideal life. “Boy Meets Girl” is Jen Kim’s humorous version of a Hollywood love story. It’s read by Tony Hale. In the John Cheever classic “The Worm in the Apple” a couple have the perfect life—but no...
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Walking on Eggshells
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two works about being careful. The title says it all in George Saunders’ “Lars Farf, Excessively Fearful Father and Husband,” as the central character goes to greater and greater extremes to protect his family from—everything. The reader is BD Wong. And a couple tiptoe...
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Lost and Found
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...
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Too Hot For Radio: Erin Somers "Washing Up"
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....
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Stories from the City of Immigrants with Waterwell
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…
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Roz Chast: While You Were Sleeping
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…
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Twisty Tales: O. Henry Prize Winners with Edward P. Jones
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...
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Nothing to Do with Love
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...
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The Pursuit of Happiness with Death, Sex and Money
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.…
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Death Sex Money
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...
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Modest Expectations
Host Meg Wolitzer presents four stories, recorded at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, in which characters shape their expectations and dreams to a manageable size. So if you’re “Medusa,” as in our first story, by Tania James, you try to figure out how to live in the world instead of turning it to...
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Save the Date with Belletrist Book Club
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about social occasions for introverts and extroverts alike, curated with the Belletrist Book Club, founded by actor Emma Roberts and producer Karah Preiss, and recorded at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Humorist Samantha Irby asks “Please Invite Me to…
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Fork in the Road
Host Meg Wolitzerpresents two stories about characters who find themselves in a place in which they need to make a choice, something that will affect them for the rest of their lives. In Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic, “Direction of the Road,” an ancient being has to make hard choices in its role as…
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Too Hot For Radio: Jonathan Lethem "The King of Sentences"
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...
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Elements of Nature
Host Meg Wolitzerpresents four 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...
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Jane Austen at 250
Host Meg Wolitzercelebrates Jane Austen’s 250th with works by, and inspired by, the enduring romance novelist. Ann Harada performs an early Austen piece, “Edgar and Emma;” Sophie Carmen-Jones reads a letter from Austen to a mentor, James Stanier Clarke. Then things get playful in the T.C. Boyle...
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Tell Me More: Jodi Kantor
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,...
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Extended Families
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…
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Remakes and Replicas
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three works about scaling the outsized real world down to manageable proportions. A couple brings the Papal seat home in Ben Loory’s “The Vatican,” read by Santino Fontana; In “I Love Betty,” by Kaitlyn Greenidge, communication problems invite interesting solutions, in…
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Selected Shorts Goes to the Movies with the Tribeca Film Festival
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three works that crossed the boundaries between fiction and film for our collaboration with this prestigious New York film Festival. An eerie game has unexpected consequences in Richard Matheson’s “Button, Button,” performed by Marin Ireland. Michael Stuhlbarg gives a...
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Best American Short Stories
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories from the volume Best American Short Stories 2025, selected by guest editor Celeste Ng. In “An Early Departure,” by Jessica Treadway, a family relationship is altered in a moment at the train station. The reader is Cynthia Nixon. In “Third Room,” by Julian...
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Homewreckers
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…
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Meg Wolitzer Talks with Louise Erdrich
In this bonus feature, host Meg Wolitzer talks with author Louise Edrich about “The Big Cat,” her craft, and her Native American roots.
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What Are the Odds?
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories with unlikely scenarios, rare events that have, at least fictionally, come to pass.Naomi Kritzer uses the idea of “The Little Free Library”—one of those impromptu structures that facilitate the swapping of books—to imagine an exchange of quite a different...
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Reality Checks
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...
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Meg Wolitzer Talks with Denis O'Hare
In this bonus feature, host Meg Wolitzer talks with 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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Too Hot For Radio: Paul La Farge "Another Life"
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…
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Haruki Murakami: Then and Now
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories by the extraordinary Japanese writer Haruki Murakami that demonstrate the breadth of his emotional imagination over a career of 35 years. In an early story, “The Window,” a professional letter-writer recalls an intimate encounter with a woman, and a…
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Too Hot For Radio: Carmen Maria Machado "Persephone Rides at the End of Days"
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...
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Bonus: Etgar Keret and Ira Glass
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...
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Meg Wolitzer Talks to Author Michael Cunningham
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....
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Tell Me More: Kathryn Nicolai
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…
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Bonus: A.M. Homes interviews Margaret Atwood
As part of our live event with Margaret Atwood, host A.M. Homes interviewed her from the stage at Symphony Space. Here is that interview.
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Bonus: Meg Wolitzer Talks with Judy Blume
Meg Wolitzer speaks with author Judy Blume about her life, her writing and the challenges of book banning.
About this show
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.
Hosted by
Symphony Space