The heroine of Amy Hempel’s road trip tale, “Jesus is Waiting,” seems to be driving away from something, driving towards something, or just plain driving, on America’s Interstate highways and turnpikes. Hempel is the winner of the 2008 Rea Award for the Short Story. The reader is Mary Stuart Masterson, whose credits include Fried Green Tomatoes and a recurring role on Law and Order: SUV.
Shaun Tan, author of “No Other Country,” began drawing and painting images for science fiction and horror stories in small press magazines as a teenager, and has since become known for his illustrated books and his acclaimed wordless novel, The Arrival. This provocative short story, which affords a glimpse of a world within a world, is read by Campbell Scott.Each year Selected Shorts sponsors the Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Writing Contest. The 2009 winner, “Swimmers” was written by a Yale University student. Daniela Maristany’s prize-winning entry, an affecting moment in the life of an extended family, is read by Mary Stuart Masterson.
Our final story is a haunting and utterly surprising work by master Irish story writer, Edna O’Brien. In “Number 10” a husband and wife sleepwalk, or dream-travel, to a very special address, and find out things about one another that they are unable to express directly. The reader is the incomparable Marian Seldes.
(Airs 7-8pm; pre-empts Left Right & Center and Says You!)