Lily King is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels: The Pleasing Hour, TheEnglish Teacher, Father of the Rain, Euphoria, Writers & Lovers, and most recently Heart the Lover. Her first story collection, Five Tuesdays in Winter, was published in 2021. Her work has been honored with numerous prizes and awards, including the Kirkus Prize, the New England Book Award for Fiction (twice), The Maine Fiction Award (twice), a Whiting Award, and the Barnes & Noble Discover Award. King has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and an alternate for the PEN/Hemingway.
Justin Kirk is best known for his roles on the television shows Succession, Perry Mason, Weeds, Jack & Jill, and the miniseries Angels in America. Additional screen credits include Modern Family, The Blacklist, Wayward Pines, You’re the Worst, Ghostbusters (2016), APB, Molly’s Game, Vice, Kidding and AMC's Interview with the Vampire. He has appeared on Broadway in Any Given Day, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Other Desert Cities, and at the Geffen Playhouse in Old Wicked Songs and These Paper Bullets! Kirk can currently be seen on Peacock’s The ’Burbs.
George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Man Booker Prize, and five collections of stories, including Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the recent collection Liberation Day (selected by former President Obama as one of his ten favorite books of 2022). Three of Saunders’ books—Pastoralia, Tenth of December, and Lincoln in the Bardo—were chosen for the New York Times list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Saunders hosts the popular Story Club on Substack, which grew out of his book on the Russian short story, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. In 2013, he was named one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People by Time. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University. His latest novel, Vigil, was published in January.
Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times bestselling author of The Female Persuasion, The Interestings, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, and The Wife, among other novels. A musical of The Interestings is in development. Wolitzer was the guest editor of The Best American Short Stories 2017, and also writes books for young readers. She is a faculty member in the Creative Writing Program at Stony Brook University, where she co-founded and co-directs BookEnds, a yearlong intensive for emerging novelists.
BD Wong has been a “Selected Shorts fave” for years, having discovered that unicorn of programs way back in the (Symphony Space Founder) Isaiah Sheffer days and returning to the program steadily ever since. He succeeded Mr. Sheffer as host of the live event, so the spirit of Selected Shorts (and Symphony Space) is installed in his creative identity. BD is a Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated actor who worked for eleven seasons on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He has also appeared in two Broadway plays, two Broadway revivals, four Jurassic movies, two Mulan movies, and two Father of the Bride movies. Among BD’s many currently developing projects is an upcoming new production of Tennessee Williams’ classic play The Glass Menagerie, reimagined as a solo performance featuring himself as Tom Wingfield conjuring the haunting memories of his mother, his sister, and the night that changed their lives (Philadelphia Theater Company, Spring 2027). He is also the co-creator of the musical adaptation of the beloved film Mr. Holland’s Opus, for which he wrote the book and lyrics with composer Wayne Barker.
CREDITS
“Lars Farf, Excessively Fearful Father and Husband,” by George Saunders, from Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren’t As Scary (Delacorte Press, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by George Saunders. Used by permission of International Creative Management.
“Five Tuesdays in Winter,” by Lily King, from Five Tuesdays in Winter (Grove Press, 2021). First published in Ploughshares (Vol. 31, No. 2/3, Fall 2005). Copyright © 2005 by Lily King. Adapted version of the text used by permission of the author.
