Selected Shorts Goes Electric

One of the most exciting lit mags publishing today (besides One Story, of course) is Electric Literature. Their mission? “To use new media and innovative distribution to return the short story to a place of prominence in popular culture.” Last season Selected Shorts hosted an event at Symphony Space celebrating Electric Literature with some great actors reading work from the magazine, as well as animated shorts created for each piece, focusing on a single sentence. This week’s radio program features two stories from that special night, including Lydia Millet’s “Sir Henry,” read by the wonderful John Lithgow, and “Some Contemporary Characters” by Rick Moody, read by Mike Birbiglia and Aya Cash. One of my favorite aspects of Electric Literature is the way they bring fiction to life by pairing work with artists. Go here to see some of their single sentence animations, then head over to Selected Shorts to listen in.