Selected Shorts

Guest 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents two works curated with the online food and cooking community Food52. In J. Robert Lennon’s “Breadman,” artisanal bread threatens a marriage. Kyle MacLachlan reads. And Joan Allen performs an excerpt from Nora Ephron’s novel Heartburn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Cynthia Nixon presents three works from The Best American Short Stories 2016. An American student meets her Ethiopian relatives in "The Suitcase," by Meron Hadero, read by Renée Elise Goldsberry. A young boy sees something unbelievable in Daniel O'Malley's "The Bridge," read by Joan Allen. And an endangered parrot pleads for compassion in "The Great Silence," by Ted Chiang, read by Elizabeth Rodriguez. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Hope Davis presents three works curated with the online food and cooking community Food52. The late Laurie Colwin has hot tips about how to feed picky eaters in “Feeding the Fussy,” read by Tracee Chimo. Indian novelist Kiran Desai remembers her childhood—and a temperamental chef—in “Home Turf,” performed by Angel Desai. And a mysterious presence haunts an old mill in classic children’s writer Joan Aiken’s “Watkyn, Comma,” performed by Sonia Manzano. Learn more about your ad...

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents three stories about fateful encounters. Henry Slesar's "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" was a classic “Twilight Zone” episode about over-ambition, read by Leonard. Leonard also reads Eric Schlich's "Head Over Knees," in which a teen's envy turns to empathy. And Helen Oyeyemi dresses an old fairy tale in new clothes in “Dornicka and the St. Martin's Day Goose," read by Colby Minifie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest host Kate Burton presents four works about cats and dogs. "Dog" is at the center of a family power play in Richard Russo's tale, read by Stephen Lang. Saki's classic presents "Tobermory" the talking cat, voiced by Rene Auberjonois. How to live like a cat, in Helen Ellis's "Take it From Cats," read by Maria Dizzia, and a reversal of fortune in "Rosalyn's Dog," by Arthur Bradford, read by John Benjamin Hickey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest hosts Susan Orlean and Sarah Thyre, the hosts of the podcast “Crybabies,” offer up some tearjerkers and share their love of crying. In “I Am the Bear,” by Wendy Brenner, a misfit and a model have an odd encounter. The reader is Kate Walsh. The late David Rakoff contemplates mortality in “All the Time We Have,” performed by Dennis O’Hare; and Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” tries to protect children from the bad things. It’s read by Busy Philipps. Learn more about your ad choices....

Guest host Cynthia Nixon presents a celebration of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre," with a reading from the classic (by Joanna Gleason) and contemporary stories it inspired: Salley Vickers' "Reader, She Married Me," read by Chris Sarandon, and Audrey Niffenegger's "The Orphan Exchange," read by Tovah Feldshuh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A story from Greg Ames, the author of a novel, Buffalo Lockjaw, and a collection of stories entitled Funeral Platter. His work has appeared in Best American Nonrequired Reading, Southern Review, McSweeney’s, North American Review, Catapult, and The Sun, among others. “Benefactor,” is something of a cautionary tale for all would-be patrons of the arts; please don’t let it stop you from sending us your tax-deductible donations. We recorded this story earlier in 2018 as a part of our live show...

Today we’re going to hear a story from Richard Bausch. This lifelong writer has produced novels and short story collections including Before During After, Peace, In the Night Season and the 2017 title Living in the Weather of the World. The actor performing it is David Strathairn, who is known for John Sayles films, Good Night and Good Luck, Lincoln, Alphas and so much more. Strathairn brings a lovely restraint to his performances, and as you’ll hear, that quality lends a new dimension to...

On this episode, a tale that involves a teenage evangelist coping with teenage lust. “God’s Work,” by Kevin Canty, was read during the annual Selected Shorts celebration of the Best American Short Stories series. The editor of the 2017 volume—novelist Meg Wolitzer - talks to host Aparna Nancherla after the reading describing Canty's keen insights about his characters which make them easily relatable, and there’s some lovely lyricism to his writing, as you’ll hear in today’s story. The actor...

A story by the up-and-coming writer Brit Bennett. Bennett is the real friggin’ deal: Her 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.” She has written essays for The Paris Review, The New York Times and The New Yorker, but remains focused on fiction. While her stories deal with seemingly ordinary people in insular communities, they’re like a rocket full of fortune...

Bruce Jay Friedman has been hailed by critics as a comic genius, a writer whose vision confronts the malaise of contemporary life with a liberating deadpan humor. Friedman has published several novels, multiple collections of short stories, four plays, and several works of nonfiction. His short story “A Change of Plan” was adapted by Neil Simon and Elaine May into the movie The Heartbreak Kid. He wrote the movie scripts for Doctor Detroit, Stir Crazy, and Splash, for which he received an...