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Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story
| Spellbinding short stories by established and emerging writers take on a new life when they are performed by stars of the stage and screen. Whether we present stories around a lively theme, the favorite works of a guest author or a special collaboration with a museum or publication, each Selected Shorts event is a unique night of literature in performance. Hosted by Isaiah Sheffer. |
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Click here to browse all Literature events |
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Stephen King, best-selling author and guest editor of The Best American Short Stories 2007, introduces two of the page-turners he selected for this year’s collection. Each one delivers what Mr. King wants all stories to convey: a “sense of emotional involvement, of flipped-out amazement…like a big hot meteor screaming down from the Kansas sky.” Joanna Gleason will read a story by Karen Russell and Judith Ivey will read a story by T.C. Boyle.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, October 10, 2007
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Amy Hempel (The Dog of the
Marriage), Merrill Markoe (What
the Dogs Have Taught Me), and Abigail
Thomas (A Three Dog Life) introduce funny
and poignant short fiction about canine companionship, inspired by the
dogs in their lives. A few of the writers' four-legged muses will even
make a special appearance! The evening is a collaboration with
The Bark Magazine ("The New Yorker for dog lovers"
–Time), and is timed to coincide with the
publication of The Bark's second anthology,
Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit.
Readers are Boston Terrier owner Joan Allen,
Labrador owner Patricia Kalember, and
Rochelle Oliver.
Send us a photo
of your literary pooch and we'll post it in this gallery!
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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An evening dedicated to the offbeat, surreal and tender stories of Aimee Bender (Willful Creatures) and the Israeli writer Etgar Keret (The Nimrod Flip-Out), two writers with sympathetic imaginations who tease every possibility from the short story form. David Rakoff and Bernadette Quigley will read.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, November 7, 2007
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Tony Award winners John Lithgow and Bill Irwin read story poems from Lithgow's new poetry anthology, The Poets' Corner. Lithgow reads the classic story "The Monkey's Paw," which he enjoyed listening to as a child, from the beloved collection Tellers of Tales, edited by W. Somerset Maugham. Timeless tales and tuneful phrases come alive off the page to enthrall story lovers ages 11 and up.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, November 14, 2007
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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides (Middlesex), Susan Minot (Evening) and Monique Truong (The Book of Salt), who've all been nurtured and inspired by the isolation and vital community of The MacDowell Colony, introduce short stories by three emerging writers who have also spent time there: David Bezmozgis, Julie Orringer and Frances Hwang. James Baldwin called it a place "to crouch in order to spring." Readers are Paul Hecht, Jill Eikenberry and Dawn Akemi Saito.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
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The
evening begins at Symphony Space with readings of stories by Joan Didion, Tim O’Brien, Neal Cassady and A.M. Homes, as selected by Richard Prince, one of America's
foremost contemporary artists. Following the readings, the audience is invited
to a private viewing of the exhibition Richard
Prince: Spiritual America at the Guggenheim. For over 30 years, Prince has
been culling from the image bank of popular culture to create photographs,
paintings and sculptures that simultaneously embrace and critique a
quintessentially American sensibility. Find out which works inspire this ardent
bibliophile, whose multimedia “appropriations” adopt the language of the
Marlboro Man, muscle cars, biker chicks, off-color jokes and pulp fiction. Performers include John Shea, Hope Davis, Kathleen Chalfant and Ted Marcoux.
Co-presented with The
Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue
at 89th St.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, January 9, 2008
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Editor Philip Gourevitch and
Senior Editor Nathaniel Rich co-host
a night of new voices from the pages of The
Paris Review. For more than fifty
years The Paris Review has been the
place to find the exciting new writers of the day. Philip Roth, V.S. Naipaul,
T.C. Boyle, Ann Patchett, Edward P. Jones, Ha Jin and Rick Moody all made
debuts in the pages of the Review. In
the past three years, under its new leadership, the magazine has again given
national exposure to an extraordinary range of masterful new voices in
fiction—writers distinguished both by their originality and by their ability
tell a truly memorable story. Among these new stars are tonight’s writers, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Lisa Halliday and Daniel Kehlmann. Performers include Campbell Scott, Isaiah Sheffer and B.D. Wong.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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PEN American Center, the U.S. center of the international writers’ group, co-presents this evening of powerful short fiction about the challenges of growing up in the modern world, for characters ranging from child soldiers in Africa to suburban American teens.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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A filmmaker and a writer discuss their experiences adapting fiction for the screen and introduce readings of fiction that has been or might be adapted. Guests include Tony Award-winner and Steppenwolf Theatre Company co-founder Terry Kinney, who introduces a screening of his film Kubuku Rides (This Is It). Based on a Larry Brown story, this emotionally charged film is an unblinking view of a household steeped in secrets and desperation. Filmmakers Doug Bost and Claudia Morgado Escanilla will join Kinney in
discussion. Sonia
Manzano performs.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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A night of stories mined from the anthologies of The Pushcart Prize, the honored series that has featured the best stories, poems, essays and “literary whatnot” from hundreds of small presses for over 32 years. Introduced by series founder and Editor Bill Henderson. Alec
Baldwin, Khris Lewin and others perform stories by Steven Millhauser, Stuart Dybek and Andrew Porter.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
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Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) introduces readings from Unaccustomed Earth, her highly anticipated second story collection, and talks about her work with an admiring fellow writer. The superbly crafted stories in the new collection follow characters from Cambridge and Seattle to India and Thailand. Rita
Wolf will perform “Hell-Heaven” from Lahiri’s story
collection Unaccustomed Earth.
A conversation with
Isaiah
Sheffer will follow the reading.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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Ann Patchett and Welty biographer and friend Suzanne Marrs pay tribute to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eudora Welty, who lived most of her life in Jackson, Mississippi, sharing thoughts on her work and introducing actors to read some of her lesser-known gems. Welty, the author of such beloved stories as "Why I Live at the P.O." and "The Petrified Man" said, "I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within." Marian
Seldes, Sloane Shelton and Kathryn Markey will perform “Lily Daw and the
Three Ladies,” “The Key” and “A Piece of News.” Part of Upper West Fest.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Tickets are no longer available for this event.
Past Showdate: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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Fabulous stories that take place on trains and planes, in cars and berths, about encounters and adventures that would not have been possible without modern transportation, proving that a lot can happen on the way from here to there. Stories by Grace Paley, H.E. Bates and Miranda July will be read by Harris
Yulin, Laura Esterman and an actor to be announced.
Tickets: $26; Members $24; Day of Show $30
Showdate: Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 7:30 pm
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