When I was a kid, I did not want to be a writer. I wanted to be Jacques Cousteau. I watched old repeats of his TV show, and dreamed of scuba diving with whales. Cousteau seemed to have it all wrapped up—as an inventor, explorer, and activist. It’s no wonder that his life inspired Wes […]
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, and all the stores full of hearts and candy, Selected Shorts turns its mind to stories of love. But as anyone who has ever been in love knows, it is a complicated business, and often more like the day after Valentine’s Day, when those heart-shaped boxes get moved to […]
Last year, I was in Alaska for a while. The glaciers I saw were the most brilliant blue–and as I watched them break apart (folks call it “calving”) all I could think of was the history of that ice–time and pressure had turned it into something beautiful, and now it was crumbling apart, after thousands of […]
There’s a bar on East 4th street in New York City called KGB. Long ago it used to be the headquarters for the communist party, but now it’s a performance space and on the 2nd floor there’s a smoky old room that hosts readings and is plastered with Soviet propaganda posters like this one, which […]
The days between Christmas and New Year’s are full of memories–memories that settle down on the couch like a flock of house guests waiting to be served. It is wonderful to see them again, and they are entertaining for a while, but by the end of the week, we’re ready for them to leave, and […]
We’ve got some great stories this week on Selected Shorts. The first is “Troll Bridge,” by the wonderful and multi-talented Neil Gaiman, performed by the man himself. This was part of a special night Gaiman hosted at Selected Shorts on stage, which featured his work as well as writers who have influenced him, including the […]
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s, there is a whole lot of eating going on. But people are also hungering for something else: love. This week on Selected Shorts we’ve got two stories that use food as a tool for finding romance. Christina Pickles reads “But the One on the Right,” by Dorothy Parker, where a […]
This week on Selected Shorts, we bring you two darkly comic and touching stories about Bad Dads. “More Life,” by Mark Strand, performed by our own Isaiah Sheffer, features a father who comes back from the dead to haunt his son, while “Creeping,” by Maxine Swann, performed by Christine Ebersole, is about a hippie Dad […]
I waited tables and bartended for years, working at night after my low-paying publishing jobs in order to make rent. I’d be on my feet for 8-10 hours shifts, constantly moving and lifting heavy trays, keeping the orders of 8 or 9 tables straight in my head and negotiating with the chef, the dishwashers, the […]
As everyone heads home for Thanksgiving, Selected Shorts is packing two great stories for you to listen to on your trip, either as a free podcast or on your local public radio station. The first is David Schickler’s “Jamaica,” performed by our very own Isaiah Sheffer, and features a domestic situation gone horribly and hilariously wrong, when a husband […]