Archive: Author: Hannah
Selected Shorts: One Story
Last spring, Selected Shorts hosted a gala evening to celebrate One Story’s 10th Anniversary. Four One Story authors, Seth Fried, L.Annette Binder, Tom Barbash and Jim Shepard came to New York City and introduced their stories to an eager audience, then listened in while four outstanding actors performed their pieces live on stage. When One Story’s Publisher Maribeth Batcha and I launched One Story back in 2002, we wanted to create a new kind of magazine, one that would support up and coming authors, create a community of readers, and celebrate the creative form of the short story by publishing authors one at a time. Since then, One Story has published 180 authors from all over the world and become one of the most-read literary magazines in the country.
The first story in this week’s program is “Nephilim,” L. Annette Binder’s heart-rending portrait of a lonely woman with gigantism. “Nephilim” was published in One Story in the fall of 2010 and went on to win a Pushcart Prize. According to Genesis, the Nephilim were the offspring of fallen angels and ordinary human women. They were giants, and supposedly so hungry, that they ate everything, and nearly destroyed the earth. But there are different kinds of hunger, and Freda, the giantess in this story, still hungers for life, even as her condition keeps her from experiencing it. L. Annette Binder captures that longing so well—you can feel Freda’s emotional aching, along with the physical aching in her bones. Rise, L.Annette Binder’s first collection of short stories, includes “Nephilim,” which is performed on stage by Colby Minifie.
Author Tom Barbash re-imagines his childhood home in “Ballon Night,” which was published by One Story in July 2007. The story is set on the Upper West Side of Manhattan the night before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, when all of the giant balloons are inflated. Barbash grew up on this “Balloon Block,” and has fun putting a dark spin on the ritual of “Balloon Parties.” The story captures how holiday parties–where people from your past and present come together–can sometimes represent your entire life. “Balloon Night” will appear in a new collection by Barbash, forthcoming in 2013. Tonight, it is read by Tom Cavanagh.
Our last story is by short story master Jim Shepard. “Cretan Love Song” slices through time to 1600 B.C., and the moment when the volcanic island of Thera erupts and eclipses Minoan civilization, changing the landscape of the world forever. It’s an extraordinary, and extraordinarily short piece. Yet in those few pages Jim Shepard captures this historical moment perfectly, while plunging deep into its emotional center by focusing on one man’s final moments. Jim also graciously stepped in to be my co-host for the radio program. His short story “The World to Come” was One Story issue #16. “Cretan Love Song” is performed by Joe Morton.
Unfortunately we couldn’t fit all four pieces from that night at Symphony Space into an hour radio program, and so Seth Fried’s story, “The Adventure of the Computer Program,” will appear later in the season (I’ll write more on it then). For now you can find Seth’s issue of One Story, “Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre,” in his marvelous collection, The Great Frustration. Meanwhile I hope you’ll check your local time/public radio station, download a podcast of this program, or simply click below to hear three amazing stories, brought to you exclusively by One Story magazine.
Gowanus, pt.51
Tin House
A section of my new novel has been published in Tin House magazine. A big thanks to the editors for giving me a chance and to the readers who have been so kind. I’ll be helping launch the issue next week at Union Hall.
Gowanus, pt.50
Into the Dark
I’ll be heading off grid for the next month or so. See you on the other side.
Selected Shorts: A compendium
Summer is the perfect time to catch up on reading (as well as listening), to those books we’ve been meaning to get to but never seem to have the time for. I plan to crack open some Proust, and meander joyfully through a few more chapters, before turning to the giant pile of galleys on my desk. But before I head off-grid to get some of that important reading (& a bit of writing) done, I thought I would do a round-up of forthcoming Selected Shorts programs. Now’s your chance to get caught up too, by downloading or tuning into the current show, which has four great stories about Mysteries & Wonders: “The Schartz Metterklume Method” by Saki, read by Marian Seldes; “Berkeley or Mariana of the Universe,” by Liliana Heker, read by Hope Davis; “Cultural Relativity” by Charles Johnson, read by Regina King; and “New York Day Women,” by Edwidge Danticat, read by Laurine Towler.
The following week, 6/28/12–The official theme is: Twice Upon a Time & includes: “Ardour” by Jonathan Keats performed by Lili Taylor; “Little Pot” by Ilya Kaminsky performed by Sonia Manzano; “Blue Bearded Lover” by Joyce Carol Oates performed by Betsy Lippitt; “Relic” by Robert Olen Butler performed by Ron Nakahara; and “The Porcelain Man” by Richard Kennedy, performed by Estelle Parsons.
7/5/12–The theme is: Who Am I? and will feature:“Neighbors” by Julia Alvarez performed by Joanna Gleason and “Flight Patterns” by Sherman Alexie performed by B.D. Wong.
7/12/12–A single shot story, “Safari”, excerpted from Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, read by Hope Davis.
7/19/12–The stories are about Wild Western Women: “Liliana” by Maile Meloy performed by James Naughton, and “Going to the Dogs” by Richard Ford performed by our own Isaiah Sheffer.
After that, I should be back online again, and can resume my sporadic chronicling of this wonderful radio show I feel so grateful to be a part of. In the meantime, please visit the Selected Shorts website for info and upcoming live performances. We’ve got Alec Baldwin, David Mitchell, Tom Perrotta, Junot Diaz, Karen Russell, Loorie Moore, Sherman Alexie, Richard Ford and all kinds of cool things coming next season. Hope you’ll join us, in person or by tuning your dial.
Selected Shorts: Bright Stars
The transit of Venus, combined with Ray Bradbury’s passing this week, made us all turn our eyes to the heavens. I contemplated Bradbury’s advice on how to become a writer, and many people, including the New York Public Library, broadcast his moving rendition of “If Only We Had Taller Been.” Bradbury said the poem was a meditation on space travel, but it also reflects on why we are moved to write, or for that matter do anything that opens our minds and seeks a possibility beyond our normal existence. This same searching can be found on this week’s Selected Shorts, beginning with Mary Robinson’s “An Amateurs Guide to the Night,” (performed by Patricia Kalember), whose heroine uses her telescope to focus on the distant planets and constellations instead of her family troubles. “Learn a Trade” by John Updike, read by James Naughton, deals with an artist’s struggle to guide his children on a more “normal” path, only to find himself drawn in by his son’s efforts at creating a set of mobiles, unwanted, un-asked for, and for this very reason, even more beautiful. Finally, we end with “Pride and Joy” by Etgar Keret, read by Robert Sean Leonard, where a son grows taller and taller, as his parents shrink. Below is the video of Bradbury reciting “If Only We Had Taller Been.” As you listen to Selected Shorts this week, on podcast or your local radio station, I hope you’ll also think of these fine words, and how we all, in our own way, reach for the stars.
Ray Bradbury
The first book I read that made me realize books could be something other than an escape—that they could also be dangerous: was Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. When I got the news yesterday that Ray had passed away, I dug out my old dog-eared mass-market copy and started re-reading. I also came across a great video of a talk he gave at Point Loma Nazarene University (I’ve put it at the end of this post). It’s a combination of advice to aspiring writers and personal anecdotes, and it takes about an hour to watch. I’d recommend that you find an hour and do so. By the end I found myself thinking: Hey, Ray Bradbury’s okay. He’s not nuts the way people said. I love him. I love him for what he does. I also took notes, and wrote down all the things that struck me. There were many things that struck me. They are summarized in the list below.
Ray Bradbury’s 20 Tips on How to Become a Writer:
- Try writing short stories first, before you write a novel.
- Read one short story, one essay, and one poem before you go to bed each night for 1,000 nights.
- Get rid of all the people in your life who don’t support you. Especially the ones who make fun of your dreams.
- Go to the library. Live in the library.
- Read everything by George Bernard Shaw.
- Fall in love with old movies.
- Don’t be a snob.
- Be joyful. Writing is not a serious business—it is a celebration.
- Don’t do it for the money.
- Write something you want to read.
- Make a list of 10 things you love. Write about them.
- Make a list of 10 things you hate. Write about them.
- Make a list of 10 things you fear. Write about them.
- Follow your intuition.
- Don’t ask: what will sell? Ask: who am I? Find your true self.
- Sit on a porch on a long, hot summer night and listen to other people’s stories.
- Look closely at everything.
- Surprise yourself. Don’t know what you’re going to do next.
- Meet the people you were destined to meet.
- What you are looking for—what you are writing for—is for one person to come up and say: Hey, you’re okay—you’re not nuts the way people said. I love you. I love you for what you do.
Selected Shorts: Neighbors
Two great stories on this week’s Selected Shorts that shed an unsettling light on the neighbors: “Adults Alone,” by A.M. Homes, read by Christina Pickles and “The Knocking,” by David Means, read by our own Isaiah Sheffer. There’s also a bonus interview with A.M. Homes about “Adults Alone,” which was originally published in her amazing collection, The Safety of Objects, and later developed into her novel, Music for Torching. “Adults Alone” follows a suburban couple attempting to shake out of their domestic stupor by smoking crack, while “The Knocking” deals with a classic New York City phenomenon, the noisy upstairs neighbor. Listen on your local public radio station, or download it on podcast for free.