Shows / Selected Shorts
Selected Shorts
Spellbinding short stories by established and emerging writers take on a new life when they are performed by stars of the stage and screen. Listen free on your computer or mobile device. Symphony Space, the home of Selected Shorts, was founded almost 40 years ago in the belief that the arts bring people together, transcend barriers, and celebrate both our similarities and our differences. That belief remains our guiding principle and is more important now than ever. Your generosity during the…
Episodes
- Selected Shorts
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…
- Selected Shorts
Miracle Grow
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two works about growth helped along by some sort of fantastical assistance. The characters in these pieces are stuck—and consciously…
- Selected Shorts
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…
- Selected Shorts
In Dad We Trust -- Maybe
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about fathers and fatherhood. In “Beauty and the Beast” by Simon Rich, a self-absorbed producer gets a little Disney…
- Selected Shorts
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…
- Selected Shorts
Roz Chast: While You Were Sleeping
Roz Chast: While You Were Sleeping by Symphony Space
- Selected Shorts
Wear and Tear
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three works that offer unusual perspectives on clothes and fashion—selling, making, and coveting. In Anne Enright’s “(She Owns)…
- Selected Shorts
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…
- Selected Shorts
Best American Short Stories 2021 with Jesmyn Ward
Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents two stories from the Best American Short Stories 2021 anthology selected by guest editor Jesmyn Ward. Both involve…
- Selected Shorts
Out of Sight
Host Meg Wolitzer shares three stories about people who put things out of sight—and try to put them out of mind. In Lisa Ko’s “Nightlife,” read by Vanessa Kai…
- Selected Shorts
Save the Date with Belletrist
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about social occasions for introverts and extroverts alike, curated with the Belletrist Book Club, founded by actor…
- Selected Shorts
Embracing Change
On this episode of Selected Shorts, host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about change. A playful fantasy, a domestic dilemma, and a private struggle help…
- Selected Shorts
Elements of Nature
Host Meg Wolitzer presents four works in which nature and the out-of-doors drive both plots and character. Humorist Jenny Allen does battle with her stubborn…
- Selected Shorts
Selected Shorts Goes to the Movies with the Tribeca Film Festival
Selected Shorts Goes to the Movies with the Tribeca Film Festival by Symphony Space
- Selected Shorts
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…
- Selected Shorts
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…
- Selected Shorts
I Contain Multitudes
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…
- Selected Shorts
Bradbury Centennial with Neil Gaiman
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…
- Selected Shorts
Truly, Madly
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…
- Selected Shorts
You've Lost It
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three pieces about losing things: objects, opportunities, a primary sense, a new friendship. In “Any Other” by Jac Jemc, performed…
- Selected Shorts
To the Rescue
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about characters who try to prepare for trouble, sometimes doing more harm than good. In Joe Meno’s “Animal Hospital”…
- Selected Shorts
Holiday Hurdles
Guest host David Sedaris presents stories that reimagine holiday rituals. In Tobias Wolff’s “Powder,” a pre-Christmas snowstorm provides an adventure for a…
- Selected Shorts
Coming and Going
Host Meg Wolitzer presents four stories about journeys, performed by actors including Stephen Colbert and John Turturro. Strangers size one another up on a…
- Selected Shorts
Ken Burns Presents Willa Cather’s America
Host Meg Wolitzer helps a great documentarian celebrate a great American author. Cather, author of novels like My Antonia and O Pioneers! just had her…
- Selected Shorts
Who, What, Where?
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories that ask the big, basic questions: Who? What? Where? The characters resonate, the situations are intriguing, and each…
- Selected Shorts
A Simple Solution
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about finding solutions to complex problems, and to simple ones. T. C. Boyle tackles evolution and government…
- Selected Shorts
Ferocious Figureheads
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about indomitable women. A mother grieves a loss fiercely in Carribean Fragoza’s “Lumberjack Mom,” performed by Roberta…
- Selected Shorts
Dangerous Women
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three works about women who defy the status quo and might therefore be perceived as “dangerous,” in this encore presentation. In…
- Selected Shorts
Inseparable
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about close—but complex—ties of family and friendship. Jamaica Kincaid offers up a lyrical, dreamlike account of the…
- Selected Shorts
Just the Thing
Host Meg Wolitzer presents stories about characters coping with problems, large and small—and then encountering someone or something with a solution. In…
- Selected Shorts
Antagonists Wanted
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories featuring famous villains, real and fictional. A woman writes a letter to a former president—now residing in Hell—in…
- Selected Shorts
A Didion Duo
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two works by the dazzling writer Joan Didion, whose essays, novels, and memoirs have been beloved by generations of readers. This…
- Selected Shorts
Uprooted
On this SELECTED SHORTS, host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about moving out of familiar territory into new spaces and new understanding. In Meron…
- Selected Shorts
Make a Meal of It
Guest host Roxane Gay (no mean cook herself) presents three stories centered on food. In “Three Great Meals” the late New Yorker humor writer Donald Barthelme…
- Selected Shorts
Perfectly Unmatched
Host Meg Wolitzer presents perfect mismatches. In “The Man and the Moose” by Ben Loory, performed by Michael Cerveris, a man’s best bud has antlers. In “Red…
- Selected Shorts
Small Odysseys
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories from our anthology, Small Odysseys, which features 35 commissioned stories from some of the series’ favorite writers…
- Selected Shorts
Mothers Know Best
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories featuring mothers and children, and entertains a special guest—her own mother, Hilma Wolitzer. In Annette Sanford’s…
- Selected Shorts
Tangled Lives
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about tangled lives; those situations; those people that pull you in and won’t let you go. These works focus on…
- Selected Shorts
Behind Her Eyes
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about social masks and what might lie beneath. Truman Capote’s “A Lamp in a Window” introduces an eccentric character…
- Selected Shorts
Mcsweeney’s 25th Anniversary Extravaganza
Mcsweeney’s 25th Anniversary Extravaganza by Symphony Space
- Selected Shorts
Didn't See It Coming
Meg Wolitzer presents two stories with surprises the characters didn’t anticipate. A smart Mom defies expectations in “Agouti,” by Brenda Williams, performed…
- Selected Shorts
Punching In
Meg Wolitzer hands off to guest host Maulik Pancholy, who presents three stories about workers and the workplace—and "the daily grind." In a John Cheever…
- Selected Shorts
#42 Reading Between the Lines
Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about the things she loves most: books and words and why they matter. In Ben Loory’s “The Book,” a contrarian volume becomes…
- Selected Shorts
#42 Reading Between the Lines Bonus
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…
- Selected Shorts
Sleight of Hand
Meg Wolitzer presents three stories with a little bit of trickery. The British writer Penelope Lively offers up a tricky combination of love and real estate in…
- Selected Shorts
Margaret Atwood: Future Imperfect
Host Meg Wolitzer presents stories by the incomparable Margaret Atwood, drawn from our archives and a live performance evening hosted by the author. “There Was…
- Selected Shorts
homes.atwood.bonus_MIX03
In this bonus interview, writers Margaret Atwood and A.M. Homes discuss everything from feminism, time, writing and dystopian fiction, to Atwood’s new short…
- Selected Shorts
Bonus: Meg Wolitzer Talks to Alison Stewart
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…