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...
View ArticleElements 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...
View ArticleJane 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...
View ArticleTell 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...
View ArticleExtended 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...
View ArticleRemakes 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;...
View ArticleSelected 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...
View ArticleBest 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...
View ArticleHomewreckers
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...
View ArticleMeg 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.Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for...
View ArticleWhat 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...
View ArticleReality 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...
View ArticleMeg 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.Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz...
View ArticleToo 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...
View ArticleHaruki 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...
View ArticleChanging the Narrative
This week on SELECTED SHORTS, guest host DeRay Mckesson presents four works that consider the Black experience in America from bold perspectives. Former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm recalled her...
View ArticleProblems without Solutions
This week on SELECTED SHORTS, host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about problems without solutions. In Elif Batuman’s “The Board,” read by Cindy Cheung, the protagonist has found the perfect...
View ArticleI Contain Multitudes
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories that demonstrate the ways in which characters—like all of us—can play many different roles in one another's lives, and in the world around us. Cherline Bazile’s...
View ArticleOn the Couch
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about therapy—the benefits and perils of sharing your troubles with a stranger. In “Therapy,” by J. Robert Lennon, the patient follows a recursive loop of doubt...
View ArticleTo the Rescue
Host Meg Wolitzerpresents three stories about characters who try an end run around trouble, sometimes doing more harm than good. In Joe Meno’s “Animal Hospital” a well-meaning father is surprised by...
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