short stories

Jonathan Penner reads from Going Blind (1977) as well as work published in periodicals.

Amy Hempel reads from her first two short story collections, Reasons to Live (1985) and At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom (1990). She opens by reading Jack Gilbert's poem "Hunger," which she describes as being taped above her typewriter for "years and years."

In this reading given with Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Kate Bernheimer reads two stories from her collection Horse, Flower, Bird (2010).

Sandra Cisneros reads short stories from The House on Mango Street (1984) and Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991) and poetry from My Wicked Wicked Ways (1987).

Poetry Center Summer Resident Polly Rosenwaike reads an excerpt from the short story Grow Your Eyelashes. This reading was originally given with Samuel Ace and Dexter L. Booth.

Tillie Olsen reads excerpts from Tell Me a Riddle (1961), her collection of short stories; Yonnondio: From the Thirties (1974), an unfinished novel; and the classic work of nonfiction, Silences (1978). Olsen's reading is interspersed with anecdotes and narrative summaries.

Leonard Michaels reads from short stories written throughout his career, and concludes the reading with an excerpt from his novel The Men's Club (1981). His uncompromising realist sketches catch characters at their darkest and most vulnerable moments, and are colored with absurdist humor. Stories include those published in his collections Going Places (1969) and I Would Have Saved Them If I Could (1975). 

Joy Williams gives the first public reading of "Portion," a new short story.

Venita Blackburn reads from Black Jesus and Other Superheroes (2017) as well as one story, "Fam," that would later appear in her collection How to Wrestle a Girl (2021).

Aimee Bender reads one uncollected story and one story from The Color Master (2014).

Bojan Louis reads from his debut short story collection Sinking Bell (2022). This excerpted story revolves around a young Diné narrator in Flagstaff, Arizona, who finds himself working as a chauffeur for his cousin and her friends. Part of the Distinguished Visitors in Creative Writing Series, this reading was presented alongside Ander Monson and Manuel Muñoz.