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    SELECTED SHORTS: THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2023

    SELECTED SHORTS: THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2023

    WED, OCT 18


    Hosted by Min Jin Lee


    Moon by Esther Yi

    Performed by Hettienne Park


    Tender by Cherline Bazile

    Performed by Anna Uzele


    Camp Emeline by Taryn Bowe

    Performed by Edie Falco


    At this performance of Selected Shorts, real-time captioning (CART) will be available in our theater for patrons with hearing loss, deafness, and/or different language and learning needs. CART can be accessed through individual smartphones and tablets at bit.ly/SymphonySpace_Captions.

    The Artists

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    Edie Falco

    Edie Falco is best known for her roles as Diane Whittlesey on the HBO series Oz, Carmela Soprano on The Sopranos, and the title role of Showtime’s Nurse Jackie. For her television work she has received multiple Emmy,...

    Edie Falco is best known for her roles as Diane Whittlesey on the HBO series Oz, Carmela Soprano on The Sopranos, and the title role of Showtime’s Nurse Jackie. For her television work she has received multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Awards, as well as the American Film Institute’s Award for Female Television Actor of the Year. Broadway credits include the Tony Award–winning play Sideman, Frankie and Johnny in The Clair De Lune, ‘Night Mother, and The House of Blue Leaves, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. Off-broadway she has appeared in The Madrid, This Wide Night, The True, and Morning Sun. Her work in feature film includes Cost of Living (American Film Institute’s Best Actress Award), Laws of Gravity (Independent Spirit Award nomination), Sunshine State, Landline, Hurricane, The Funeral, The Addiction, Freedomland, The Land of Steady Habits, Judy Berlin, and the forthcoming Avatar sequels.

    Min Jin Lee

    Min Jin Lee is the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book Award, and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2022, Lee received the Manhae Grand Prize for Literature,...

    Min Jin Lee is the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book Award, and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2022, Lee received the Manhae Grand Prize for Literature, the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award, and the Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Award for Creativity from South Korea. She is the recipient of fellowships in Fiction from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Lee is an inductee of the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame and the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. She is a Writer-in-Residence at Amherst College and serves as a trustee of PEN America and a director of the Authors Guild. She is at work on her third novel, American Hagwon and a nonfiction work, Name Recognition.

    Hettienne Park

    Hettienne Park is best known for her roles as Beverly Katz on Hannibal and Tamika Collins on Stephen King's The Outsider. Her additional screen credits include Don’t Look Up, written and directed by Adam McKay, Gossip Girl,...

    Hettienne Park is best known for her roles as Beverly Katz on Hannibal and Tamika Collins on Stephen King's The Outsider. Her additional screen credits include Don’t Look Up, written and directed by Adam McKay, Gossip Girl, The OA, Blacklist, High Maintenance, Bride Wars, Damages, The Good Wife, Young Adult, Blindspot, 9-1-1: Lone Star, Prodigal Son, Law & Order, and more. Park appeared on Broadway in Seminar with Alan Rickman and off-Broadway in Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, earning her a Theatre World Award, honoring her outstanding debuts both on and off Broadway. Park will appear on HBO Max in The Girls On The Bus, inspired by the book Chasing Hillary by New York Times journalist Amy Chozick.

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    The AUTHORS

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    Cherline Bazile

    Cherline Bazile is a Haitian American writer from Florida. She graduated from Harvard University and received her MFA in Fiction from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. Her work has been supported by the Paul &...

    Cherline Bazile is a Haitian American writer from Florida. She graduated from Harvard University and received her MFA in Fiction from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. Her work has been supported by the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship, the Mass Cultural Council, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, and more.

    Taryn Bowe

    Taryn Bowe’s recent work has appeared in Epoch, The Sewanee Review, Indiana Review, Bellevue Literary Review, and Joyland. She lives with her husband and daughter in Maine, where she serves...

    Taryn Bowe’s recent work has appeared in Epoch, The Sewanee Review, Indiana Review, Bellevue Literary Review, and Joyland. She lives with her husband and daughter in Maine, where she serves as the Associate Director at the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance.

    Heidi Pitlor

    Heidi Pitlor is the author of the novels The Birthdays, The Daylight Marriage, which was optioned for film, and Impersonation. She has been the series editor of The Best American Short Stories since 2007....

    Heidi Pitlor is the author of the novels The Birthdays, The Daylight Marriage, which was optioned for film, and Impersonation. She has been the series editor of The Best American Short Stories since 2007. She is the director of Heidi Pitlor Editorial and the editorial director of the literary studio Plympton. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Lit Hub, Ploughshares, and elsewhere.

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    MORE INFORMATION

    Credits

    “Moon,” by Esther Yi, from The Best American Short Stories 2023 (Mariner Books, 2023) and Y/N by Esther Yi, copyright © 2023 by Esther Yi. First appeared in The Paris Review (Issue 240, Summer 2022). Adapted version of the text used by permission of Astra Publishing House.

    “Tender,” by Cherline Bazile, from The Best American Short Stories 2023 (Mariner Books, 2023). First appeared in The Sewanee Review (Spring 2022). Copyright © 2022 by Cherline Bazile. Adapted version of the text used by permission of the author.

    “Camp Emeline,” by Taryn Bowe, from The Best American Short Stories 2023 (Mariner Books, 2023). First appeared in Indiana Review (Vol. 44, No. 1, Spring 2022). Copyright © 2022 by Taryn Bowe. Adapted version of the text used by permission of the author.

    SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS

    Selected Shorts is supported by the Dungannon Foundation, creator of The Rea Award for the Short Story.

    Symphony Space’s season of programming is also made possible by the generous support of Susan Bay Nimoy, Estate of Douglas M. Matheson, Seedlings Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, MacMillan Family Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Charina Endowment Fund, Henry Nias Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, PECO Foundation, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, Mustang Foundation, Michael Tuch Foundation, Axe-Houghton Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, The Isambard Kingdom Brunel Society of North America, and Theatre Development Fund.

    Programming is also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

    Symphony Space thanks our generous supporters, including our Board of Directors, Producers Circle, and members, who make our programs possible with their annual support.

    The Best American series, launched in 1915, is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of print and online publications. A guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected—and most popular—of its kind. Selected Shorts has partnered with Best American since 1995.

    Floral Design by PlantShed

    Symphony Space Staff

    Kathy Landau Executive Director
    Peg Wreen     Managing Director
    Isaiah Sheffer    *
    Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1988)
    Artistic Director (1988-2010)
    Founding Artistic Director (2010-2012)
    Allan Miller
    Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1988)

    Jennifer Brennan Director of Literary Programs
    Drew Richardson     Lead Producer of Literary Programs
    Vivienne Woodward     Producer of Literary Programs
    Mary Shimkin     Director of Broadcast & Literary Initiatives
    Sarah Montague Selected Shorts Radio Producer
    Jenny Falcon Selected Shorts Radio Producer
    Miles B. Smith Selected Shorts Recording Engineer
    Matthew Love Consultant for Literary Programs
    Magdalene Wrobleski     Literary Assistant
    Sophia Raimondi Literary Intern
    Lulu Chatterjee Literary Intern

    *in memoriam

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