Selected Shorts

The author of the story is Carlos Greaves. His stories have been featured in The New Yorker and McSweeney's. Reading this story is Jon Cameron Mitchell who wrote and starred in Hedwig and the Angry Inch—the musical and its film adaptation—and has made memorable appearances in series including Girls, Shrill, and City on Fire. And he continues to follow his passions with projects such as his musical podcast Anthem: Homunculus. After the story, host Aparna Nancherla talks to Greaves about his work, and yes, Satan.

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about objects of love, and feelings that can't be returned, for very different reasons. In “A Love Letter” by Greg Ames, a boy falls head over heels in a crosswalk. Actor and Young Adult author Maulik Pancholy really captures teen ardor and angst in his reading. And in Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s “Sugar Babies,” another teenager learns about adult responsibility from an everyday pantry staple. The reader is Sonia Manzano.

Meg Wolitzer presents four works drawn from an evening of satirical stories about American political history, hosted by Andy Borowitz.Nothing is sacred.  First, Joe Yan imagines Abraham Lincoln, huckster, in “I’m Abraham Lincoln and I Beg Of You, Please Commemorate My Birthday With Mattress Sales,” read by Ikechukwu Ufomadu.  In “Running for Governor,” Mark Twain imagines himself in the political horse race.  The reader is John Cameron Mitchell.  John and Abigail Adams had a famously happy marriage, despite often being apart, and why not imagine them taking advantage of the 18th century version of modern media options?  That’s the premise of Alexandra Petri’s “John and Abigail Adams Try Sexting,” read by Ophira Eisenberg and Ikechukwu Ufomadu.  And the show wraps with a piece by Borowitz himself, “A Very Nixon Halloween,” inspired by a photograph of Nixon as an awkward civilian after he left office.The reader is Caroline Aaron.

Host Meg Wolitzer talks with political satirist and author Andy Borowitz in this bonus interview.

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Rarely do we devote one show to just one writer, but on this Selected Shorts, we turn the show over to universally beloved author George Saunders. Saunders somehow finds the good, or at any rate the imperfectly human, in his characters. The result is a catalog as funny as it is moving, as devastating as it is hopeful. On this program, two stories that perfectly illustrate this. “Love Letter” is from Saunders’ latest collection Liberation Day. In it, an anxious grandfather who is ambivalent about the state of the world counsels an older grandchild. “Love Letter” is read by Stephen Colbert. And a favorite from our archives, “The Falls,” shows us two flawed men given a chance to do the right thing. René Auberjonois reads. The show also includes a conversation between host Meg Wolitzer and Saunders.

Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about the tricky subject of envy that question whether the grass is in fact always greener somewhere else.In Alexandra Petri’s “Seneca Falls for You,” feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton almost gets trapped in a romance novel.The reader is Ophira Eisenberg.  Ben Phillipe’s sly fairy tale, “The Luck of Others,” read by Joanna Gleason, reminds us to beware of what we wish for.  And a small town charity auction surfaces envy and confusion in George Saunders’ “Al Roosten,” read by Tony Hale.

Meg Wolitzer presents two stories with surprises the characters didn’t anticipate.  A smart Mom defies expectations in “Agouti,” by Brenda Williams, performed by Laurine Towler.  And a smart house has unexpected features in a classic by sci-fi master Ray Bradbury.Stephen Colbert reads “The Veldt.”

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 reader is Sopranos alum Michael Imperioli.  And unusual family dynamics shape Amy Bloom’s “Love is Not a Pie,” performed by Hope Davis.  We also share a discussion of this work by the mother and daughter book club organized by our frequent reader Rita Wolf and her daughter Anjeli.

Meg Wolitzerpresents a show of stories about replacements and stand-ins.  While we tend to crave the original, sometimes a substitute can bring more happiness than the “real” thing.  In Steve Almond’s “A Happy Dream,” read by Phil LaMarr, a young man assumes a new identity in pursuit of love.  In “A Brief Note on the Translation of Winter Women, Written by the Collective Dead, Translated by Amal Ruth,” a writer speaks for those who have passed.  The “real” author is Rivers Solomon, and the reader is TL Thompson.  In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” by Alexander Weinstein, a robot child and its human family learn about love all at once. The reader is Tony Hale.

short_stories, short_fiction, symphony_space, books, life, meg wolitzer, Carlos Greaves, Santina Fontana, Dylan Marron, Sarah Messanotte, Willa Cather, Patricia Clarkson, humor, cartoons, family