The long-running short story reading series Selected Shorts has a new host: novelist Meg Wolitzer.
Wolitzer will serve as the emcee of the public radio broadcast and podcast beginning in March, according to a news release from Symphony Space, the Manhattan arts organization that produces the series. She will be the second permanent host of the series in its history, following Symphony Space founder Isaiah Sheffer, who died in 2012.
“We are thrilled to welcome Meg as the new host of Selected Shorts,” Symphony Space’s executive director, Kathy Landau, said. “She brings deep connections to the series and the world it celebrates, explores, and unpacks.”
Selected Shorts was founded in 1985 by Kay Cattarulla. The series consists of stage and screen actors reading short stories by both new and established writers; it’s broadcast on more than 130 public radio stations and via a podcast.
Wolitzer made her literary debut in 1982 with Sleepwalking. Her novels include The Wife, The Interestings, and The Female Persuasion.
Wolitzer’s first episode, scheduled for March 3, will feature performers Lynne Thigpen, Joanna Gleason, and Joan Allen. Authors whose work will be read in Wolitzer’s first five episodes include Lisa Ko, Rebecca Makkai, Amber Sparks, and Edwidge Danticat.
“[Selected Shorts] is not like anything else I’ve heard before,” Wolitzer said. “The idea of talking to actors and writers and listening to these stories and actually getting to be a part of it is thrilling to me. The actors bring something to it that you can’t necessarily hear when you say it in your head, and that marriage of actors and writers was made in heaven for me.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
