Selected Shorts

Selected Shorts


Latest Episodes

Embracing Change
March 21, 2024

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 us to adjust to the idea of transformation

Mothers Know Best
August 10, 2023

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories featuring mothers and children, and entertains a special guesther own mother, Hilma Wolitzer. In Annette Sanfords Trip in a Summer Dress, a young woman is s

Tangled Lives
August 03, 2023

Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about tangled lives; those situations; those people that pull you in and wont let you go. These works focus on encounters that affect a character's life in s

Behind Her Eyes
July 27, 2023

Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about social masks and what might lie beneath. Truman Capotes A Lamp in a Window introduces an eccentric character with a secret. Its performed by Arian

Mcsweeney’s 25th Anniversary Extravaganza
July 20, 2023

Host Meg Wolitzer presents a celebration of the 25th anniversary of powerhouse indie publisher McSweeneys, known for clever, funny, playful, weird, and literary writing. Ophira Eisenberg reads Poor

Didn’t See It Coming
July 13, 2023

Meg Wolitzer presents two stories with surprises the characters didnt anticipate. A smart Mom defies expectations in Agouti, by Brenda Williams, performed by Laurine Towler. And a smart house has

Punching In
July 06, 2023

Meg Wolitzer hands off to guest host Maulik Pancholy, who presents three stories about workers and the workplaceand "the daily grind." In a John Cheever classic, Bayonne, a busy waitress defends h

#42 Reading Between the Lines
June 29, 2023

Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about the things she loves most: books and words and why they matter. In Ben Loorys The Book, a contrarian volume becomes a literary sensation, and alters one wom

Bonus: Meg Wolitzer Visits Her Favorite Indie Bookstore
June 29, 2023

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.

Sleight of Hand
June 22, 2023

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 The Third Wife, performed by real-life