Host Meg Wolitzer presents four stories in which characters give, and get, a little assistance, from friends, strangers and family. A daughter copes with a cantankerous parent in “How to Take Dad to the Doctor” by Jenny Allen, performed by Jennifer Mudge. A woman moves to a new town and makes a strange new friend in Laura van den Berg’s “Friends,” performed by Roberta Colindrez. A Tyrolean café improbably situated in South America is home to mysterious strangers and new and old romances, in Isab...
May 22, 2025•59 min
Host Meg Wolitzer presents a program celebrating the 100th anniversary of The New Yorker. One of the magazine’s strengths has always been its fiction, and honor of this winning literary streak, this year saw the release of the collection, A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker. The quartet of stories on this show is drawn from that volume. The program includes a pithy satire by E. B. White, “Life Cycle of a Literary Genius,” read by Liev Schreiber; “Love,” by William Maxwell, a tender recounting...
May 15, 2025•1 hr
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about secrets that are just beneath the surface of the narratives and lives of the characters. In Walter Dean Myers’ “The Beast in the Labyrinth” children must conceal their real selves in a hostile society. The reader is Jelani Alladin. And the Shirley Jackson classic “The Lottery” demonstrates how the inconceivable can become the norm in a community if everyone accepts it. The reader is Amy Ryan.
May 08, 2025•58 min
Selected Shorts celebrates this important collection each year, and this show, presented by host Meg Wolitzer, reprises works from the 2022 Best American edition selected by guest editor Andrew Sean Greer. Included are “The Little Widow from the Capital,” by Yohanca Delgado, performed by Krystina Alabado, and a second story selected by John Updike for the volume Best American Stories of the Century. It’s Grace Stone Coates’ “Wild Plums,” performed by Mia Dillon.
May 01, 2025•58 min
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories by contemporary Japanese writers that were featured during a live program created in collaboration with the Japan Society. Each touches on the idea of letting go. In “Hawaii,” Aoko Matsuda imagines a afterlife for garments. It’s read by Maria Dizzia. In “Sunrise,” by Erika Kobayashi, a woman’s life parallels the world of nuclear power. The reader is Rita Wolf. And Hugh Dancy meets a mermaid in Hiromi Kawakami’s “I Won’t Let You Go.”
Apr 24, 2025•57 min
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories and two poems the celebrate the power and mystery of reading and writing. Billy Collins contributes magical verse from two perspectives in “Books” read by Kirsten Vangsness, and “Dear Reader,” performed by Dion Graham. N.K. Jemisin entices us with a tricky narrative that contemplates the cost of literary celebrity. It’s read by Yetide Badaki.And at least one character in Ian McEwan’s “My Purple Scented Novel” wants celebrity at all costs. It's read by Tony ...
Apr 17, 2025•58 min
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about selves obscured and revealed, by characters whose own identities are mysteries to them. In Aimee Bender’s “Un-Selfie, a woman reveals her extraordinary past to a stranger.The story was a commission for our 2022 Small Odysseys anthology, and is read by Alysia Reiner. In our second story, “Best Western” by Louise Erdrich, a young wife struggles to maintain a romantic fiction, until the real world crashes in on her. It’s read by Patricia Kalember....
Apr 10, 2025•57 min
On the Media ’s Brooke Gladstone was our guest for a live Selected Shorts event, and this week, host Meg Wolitzer presents some of the stories Gladstone chose. They all explore the theme of tales we tell ourselves—and others. The title says it all in Mary Gordon’s “My Podiatrist Tells Me a Story about a Boy and a Dog” read by Bebe Neuwirth and Richard Masur. Two imaginative cooks reinvent themselves in a new country in Meron Hadero’s “A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times,” read by Chinasa ...
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr
Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about belonging and sacrifice in two very different kinds of social orders. In Wolitzer’s own “The Summer Reading List” the intensity of youthful bookworms is perfectly captured. It’s performed by Melora Hardin. And Marie-Helene Bertino takes us inside a bat cave for a story of love, longing, and immortality. “Viola in Midwinter” was chosen for the Best American Short Stories 2024 anthology by guest editor Lauren Groff. It’s performed by Rita Wolf....
Mar 27, 2025•58 min
Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about secret spaces and what they represent. In N. K. Jemisin’s speculative fantasy “Elevator Dancer,” a security guard in a totalitarian regime is beguiled by an act of freedom. The reader is Laura Gómez. And Hugh Dancy reads Greg Jackson’s “The Hollow,” about a secret room, a purposeless life, and a guy who can’t stop talking about Vincent Van Gogh.
Mar 20, 2025•59 min
Host Meg Wolitzer present three stories in which friendly advice is proffered, whether it’s wanted or not. The title of the first, by Meghana Indurti and Tyler Fowler, says it all: “Relationship Advice from Your Aunt Who Has Been Divorced Six Times.” It’s read by Jane Kaczmarek. In Mira Jacob’s “Death by Printer,” a YouTube DIY video seems to have a mind of its own.The reader is Rita Wolf. And a husband dispenses lavish advice at a wedding brimming with his wife’s exes in “The Happiest Day of Yo...
Mar 13, 2025•59 min
"The Ballad of Bagel Rat," is by Jen Spyra . She's written for The Onion, The New Yorker , and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. After reading her short story collection Big Time, we not only brought two of Spyra's stories to the stage, but commissioned this one, too. Actor Busy Phillips read this story onstage. She's been in shows from Freaks & Geeks to Cougar Town , though these days you may know her from Girls5Eva or the movie musical Mean Girls. Also, she is the best at social media—which ...
Mar 03, 2025•28 min
Meg Wolitzer speaks with author Judy Blume about her life, her writing and the challenges of book banning.
Jan 16, 2025•15 min
This piece is by writer Maeve Dunigan . Her work has been featured in The New Yorker and in McSweeney's ; and her first collection of humor pieces and essays, Read This to Look Cool, will be published in 2025. Our reader was none other than Susie Essman , the longtime stand-up comic who spent many years yelling at Larry David while playing Susie Green on Curb Your Enthusiasm. She has also had recurring roles in series including Broad City and Hacks . After the story, Host Aparna Nancherla talks ...
Jan 06, 2025•24 min
Host Meg Wolitzer talks with political satirist and author Andy Borowitz in this bonus interview.
Oct 24, 2024•14 min
From the author of Eileen and My Year of Rest and Relaxation , a story about weird people doing weird things. Read by Colby Minifie from The Boys , The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Fear the Walking Dead . Michael Ian Black hosts this episode, which includes an interview with Moshfegh.
Sep 02, 2024•43 min
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 one can believe it. It’s read by Anne Meara. And a harried mother fantasizes about a brand new life in Vanessa Cuti’s “Our Children,” performed by Claire Danes, followed by an interview with Danes. ....
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Host Meg Wolitzer talks with author Elizabeth Strout about her story “Home” and the fictional family Strout has created.
Apr 04, 2024•11 min
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.
Feb 15, 2024•15 min
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.
Feb 08, 2024•16 min
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.
Jun 29, 2023•16 min
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.
Jun 15, 2023•18 min
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.
Jun 08, 2023•9 min
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.
Feb 09, 2023•12 min
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.
Jan 12, 2023•20 min
In this bonus conversation, host Meg Wolitzer talks to friend and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout about writing, short stories, and the use of recurring characters in her work.
Sep 08, 2022•11 min
In this bonus conversation, host Meg Wolitzer talks to comedian and writer Michael Ian Black about what he’s been reading and the tricky business of being funny. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage
Jul 21, 2022•19 min
In this bonus conversation, host Meg Wolitzer talks to journalist, activist and feminist writer Mona Eltahawy about her life, literature and what it means to be a "dangerous woman." Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage
Jun 16, 2022•22 min
A bonus interview between our host and best-selling author, Meg Wolitzer, and the host of WNYC’s All of It, Alison Stewart. Wolitzer reveals some of the secrets to great writing and the two women share their own reading habits and thoughts about the importance of fiction. Join and give!: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/symphonyspacenyc?code=Splashpage
Apr 14, 2022•9 min
