This weekend’s Selected Shorts features stories chosen by Colum McCann, who won the 2009 National Book Award with his novel Let the Great World Spin, a stunning portrait of New York City set in the summer of 1974, when Philippe Petit crossed between the two towers of the World Trade Center on a tightrope. Colum picked some fantastic tales for this episode: “(She Owns) Every Thing” by Anne Enright, performed by Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) which shows how much a talented writer can do with one object–in this case, a handbag–to develop an emotional world; “Free Fruit for Young Widows” by Nathan Englander, performed by Michael Cerveris (Sweeney Todd), a gripping story that revolves around a character who is both a murderer and a misken; and finally “The Writers’ Model” by Molly Giles, performed by Blair Brown (Fringe), an interesting addition to the current discussion on women in the literary world over at Vida. For your local time/station, go here. And to download free podcasts of past episodes. Go here. Thanks for listening!