Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
THIRTY-FIVE LITERARY LUMINARIES COME TOGETHER FOR A CELEBRATION OF THE SHORT STORY IN THIS COLLECTION OF ALL-NEW WORKS In 1978, a performance venue called Symphony Space was founded on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Since then, it has been throwing its doors open to the public for annual celebrations of music, art, and literature. Among its most successful programs is Selected Shorts, which seeks out incredible stories by well-known and emerging writers and has them performed by outstanding actors, in person and across the country, onstage at sold-out shows and via radio and podcast.
This collection, originally conceived of as a celebration of Selected Shorts' first 35 years, has grown to become a celebration of the short story itself. Featuring never-before-published stories by many of our most preeminent authors as well as up-and-coming superstars, it represents the short story's rich present and enduring future. Edited by One Story's Hannah Tinti and with a foreword by Neil Gaiman, with a roster including Carmen Maria Machado, Dave Eggers, Edwidge Danticat, Elizabeth Strout, Jess Walter, Lauren Groff, Lisa Ko, Luis Alberta Urrea, Michael Cunningham, Mira Jacob, and Namwali Serpel, the resulting collection is striking, moving, joyful, provocative, and above all extraordinary.
FEATURING
Rabih Alameddine * Jenny Allen * Aimee Bender * Marie-Helene Bertino * Jai Chakrabarti * Patrick Cottrell * Elizabeth Crane * Michael Cunningham * Patrick Dacey * Edwidge Danticat * Dave Eggers * Omar El Akkad * Lauren Groff * Jacob Guajardo * A.M. Homes * Mira Jacob * Jac Jemc * Etgar Keret * Lisa Ko * Victor LaValle * J. Robert Lennon * Ben Loory * Carmen Maria Machado * Juan Martinez * Maile Meloy * Joe Meno * Lesley Nneka Arimah * Susan Perabo * Helen Phillips * Namwali Serpell * Rivers Solomon * Elizabeth Strout * Luis Alberto Urrea * Jess Walter * Weike Wang
Synopsis
Thirty-five literary luminaries come together in this stunning collection of all new works. Small Odysseys sweeps the reader into the landscape of the contemporary short story, featuring never-before-published works by many of our most preeminent authors as well as up-and-coming superstars, all in a single beautiful volume.
Published in partnership with the beloved literary radio program and live show Selected Shorts, this collection captures its spirit in print for the first time. The thirty-five stories in this volume will be honored in a full-day event at the time of publication, performed live in New York and streamed in real time all over the globe.
For longtime fans of Symphony Space's Selected Shorts, as well as readers of anthologies like Best American or magazines like One Story, this wide-ranging collection is a must-have for any lover of contemporary literature. As varied and diverse as the modern literary world itself, it offers stories that are in turn striking, generous, provocative, and joyful--and on every page extraordinary.
FEATURING
Rabih Alameddine * Jenny Allen * Aimee Bender * Marie-Helene Bertino * Jai Chakrabarti * Patrick Cottrell * Elizabeth Crane * Michael Cunningham * Patrick Dacey * Edwidge Danticat * Dave Eggers * Omar El Akkad * Lauren Groff * Jacob Guajardo * A.M. Homes * Mira Jacob * Jac Jemc * Etgar Keret * Lisa Ko * Victor LaValle * J. Robert Lennon * Ben Loory * Carmen Maria Machado * Juan Martinez * Maile Meloy * Joe Meno * Lesley Nneka Arimah * Susan Perabo * Helen Phillips * Namwali Serpell * Rivers Solomon * Elizabeth Strout * Luis Alberto Urrea * Jess Walter * Weike Wang
Synopsis
"Lovers of the short story, rejoice There's something for everyone in this anniversary collection . . . The collection makes the argument that time and again, it is stories that save us." --Booklist
Thirty-five literary luminaries come together in this stunning collection of all-new works.
A must-have for any lover of literature, Small Odysseys sweeps the reader into the landscape of the contemporary short story, featuring never-before-published works by many of our most preeminent authors as well as up-and-coming superstars.
On their journey through the book, readers will encounter long-ago movie stars, a town full of dandelions, and math lessons from Siri. They will attend karaoke night, hear a twenty-something slacker's breathless report of his failed recruiting by the FBI, and travel with a father and son as they channel grief into running a neighborhood bakery truck. They will watch the Greek goddess Persephone encounter the end of the world, and witness another apocalypse through a series of advertisements for a touchless bidet. And finally, they will meet an aging loner who finds courage and resilience hidden in the most unexpected of places--the next generation.
Published in partnership with beloved literary radio program and live show Selected Shorts in honor of its thirty-fifth anniversary, this collection of thirty-five stories captures its spirit in print for the first time.
FEATURING
Rabih Alameddine * Jenny Allen * Lesley Nneka Arimah * Aimee Bender * Marie-Helene Bertino * Jai Chakrabarti * Patrick Cottrell * Elizabeth Crane * Michael Cunningham * Patrick Dacey * Edwidge Danticat * Dave Eggers * Omar El Akkad * Lauren Groff * Jacob Guajardo * A.M. Homes * Mira Jacob * Jac Jemc * Etgar Keret * Lisa Ko * Victor LaValle * J. Robert Lennon * Ben Loory * Carmen Maria Machado * Juan Martinez * Maile Meloy * Joe Meno * Susan Perabo * Helen Phillips * Namwali Serpell * Rivers Solomon * Elizabeth Strout * Luis Alberto Urrea * Jess Walter * Weike Wang