Selected Shorts

Guest host Kate Burton presents two stories about parents and children.

Guest host Jane Curtin presents works by Anton Chekhov that were part of a celebration sponsored by Columbia University and hosted by Chekhov scholar Laura Strausfeld.

Guest host Kate Burton presents three stories about politics and voting, at home and abroad.

Guest host Hope Davis presents three improbable stories.

Guest host Maulik Pancholy presents two works about how we look at things.

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents two works curated with the online food and cooking community Food52.

Guest host Cynthia Nixon presents three works from The Best American Short Stories 2016.

Guest host Hope Davis presents three works curated with the online food and cooking community Food52.

Guest host Kate Burton presents four works about cats and dogs.

Guest hosts Susan Orlean and Sarah Thyre, the hosts of the podcast “Crybabies,” offer up some tearjerkers and share their love of crying.

Guest host Cynthia Nixon presents a celebration of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre."

Guest host Jane Curtin presents two stories about travelling long distances.

Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents three stories with surprising twists and turns.

Guest host David Strathairn presents three stories about families.

Guest host Kate Burton presents two stories about destiny.

"Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience TM" by Rebecca Roanhorse

Guest host Andy Borowitz intros four hilarious pieces featured in his anthology "The 50 Funniest American Writers."

Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents two stories based on fairy tales.

Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents three stories about strange encounters.

Guest host Andy Borowitz shares some of his favorite comic writing.

Guest host Maulik Pancholy presents a show about the past, the future, and how time flies.

Guest host Cynthia Nixon presents two stories featuring man's best friend.

Read by David Strathairn

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents three stories with animal connections.

Guest host Jane Curtin introduces stories from an evening hosted by Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist.

Guest host David Strathairn introduces two tales by master of mystery Agatha Christie.

Guest host Jane Kaczmarek introduces three tales about taking things to extremes.

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents a tribute to the classic TV series, “The Twilight Zone.

Read by Jim True-Frost

Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents three stories that are both sweet and sour.

Guest host Cynthia Nixon presents two stories about strange, and strained, relationships.

Guest host Andy Borowitz relishes transgression and presents three stories featuring people going off the rails.

Guest host Jane Curtin presents three stories by the American master Shirley Jackson.

Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents three unlikely stories for some April foolery.

Guest host Denis O’Hare introduces two stories about outsiders.

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard introduces two works celebrating the 100th anniversary of the anthology The Best American Short Stories.

Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents four works about love and friendship,

Guest host Dennis O’Hare presents two unorthodox love stories.

Read by Karen Pittman

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents stories by Joy Williams.

Just in time for President’s Day we offer two stories about big shots, presented by guest host Jane Curtin.

Guest host David Sedaris presents two stories about important relationships, and one playful spoof about the lives of celebrity chefs.

Guest host Jane Curtin presents two stories featuring unconventional families.

Read by Richard Kind

Guest host Jane Curtin presents three stories in which small things count for a lot.

Guest host Hope Davis presents two stories about imagined worlds.

Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman hosts a program featuring two of his own stories and a classic by John Collier.

Guest host Denis O’Hare presents three stories that take things to extremes.

Guest host Jane Curtin presents two stories about marriage.

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents three stories for the holidays.

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents works about living, and not living, in New York City.

Read by Michael Imperioli and Cristin Milioti

Guest host Jane Curtin presents works about questions and answers.

Guest host Michael Cerveris presents stories in which trusting your senses is important.

Guest host Cynthia Nixon presents stories inspired by Brandon Stanton's blog and book Humans of New York.

Guest host Josh Radnor presents two stories about marriage and its challenges.

Guest host David Strathairn presents two stories about hard times.

Guest host Sonia Manzano presents two stories about identity, appearance, and longing.

This special, hosted by fantasy writer and illustrator Neil Gaiman, offers four creepy stories with a hint of laughter.

Guest host Hope Davis presents three works by the Southern master Carson McCullers.

Guest host Josh Radnor presents three stories drawn from the world of fables and fairytales.

"Death, Sex, and Money" host Anna Sale joins us for stories about all these subjects.

Guest host Hope Davis presents stories about family ties.

Guest host David Sedaris presents two stories about quiet times.

Read by Sigourney Weaver

Guest host Cynthia Nixon presents two stories about growing up.

Guest host Josh Radnor presents three stories about needy people.

Guest host David Strathairn presents four works that teach us a few things.

Read by Michael Urie

Guest host Sonia Manzano presents works by the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector.

Guest host Kate Burton presents four unusual love stories.

Guest host Josh Radnor presents two stories that are favorites of “The Wire” writer Richard Price, and Colson Whitehead remembers his New York.

Guest host Ruben Santiago-Hudson presents three stories about parallel lives.

Read by Michael Ian Black

Guest host Cynthia Nixon introduces readings from three chapters of Alice in Wonderland.

Guest host Krista Tippett presents works about art, faith, and spirituality.

"On Being"'s Krista Tippett hosts SELECTED SHORTS this week, presenting works that look at issues of art and faith.

Read by Maulik Pancholy

Guest host Jane Curtin presents readings from the blog Letters of Note.

Read by Stephen Lang

Guest host David Sedaris presents two ruefully funny stories.

Guest host David Strathairn presents three stories in which characters confess something.

Read by Aasif Mandvi

Read by Aasif Mandvi

Guest host Kate Burton presents four works reflecting on the experience of war.

Life is fleeting in these three works presented by guest host Michael Cerveris.

Read by Alec Baldwin

Guest host Kate Burton presents three works in which women are subjects, objects, or catalysts.

Guest host Sonia Manzano presents three works about entering uncharted territories.

Read by Sam Underwood

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents two sweet tales of happily ever after.

Guest host David Sedaris two stories about learning from your mistakes.

Read by Rita Wolf

Guest host Kate Burton presents a cornucopia of funny pieces from the volume The Best of The Harvard Lampoon.

Guest host Michael Cerveris presents two stories about untrue love.

Read by John Turturro

Guest host Robert Sean Leonard presents two stories in which children are at risk.