A monthly reading and conversation with the New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman.
WNYC Studios and The New Yorker
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Listeners of The New Yorker: Fiction that love the show mention: deborah,The New Yorker: Fiction podcast has been a significant part of my life since 2007, and it's crazy that I haven't left a review until now. This show is, without a doubt, a perfect podcast. It delivers on exactly what it promises with its great production values and exceptional host, Deborah Treisman. The premise of the show is simple yet brilliant - it provides listeners with the opportunity to hear classic stories and learn more about fiction and writing. As someone who enjoys New Yorker fiction, this podcast has been an invaluable way for me to explore more of it. I am immensely grateful to the production team for creating something that has genuinely enriched my life for many years.
One of the best aspects of The New Yorker: Fiction podcast is undoubtedly its ability to serve as a gateway to short fiction. It introduces listeners to a wide range of authors and stories, expanding their literary horizons in the process. Deborah Treisman's soothing voice is another highlight of the show - her calming presence makes each episode enjoyable to listen to. Additionally, her skills as a facilitator are commendable; she manages discussion without any apparent agenda other than appreciating the story and its author. This podcast truly feels like sitting in on a sophisticated workshop where you can delve deeper into the literature you love.
While I have found countless positives in The New Yorker: Fiction podcast, there are not many negatives worth mentioning. However, some negative reviews exist, though they are often seen as hilarious rather than valid criticisms. Nonetheless, it's important to note that taste in literature can vary greatly among individuals, so not every story or discussion may resonate with everyone.
In conclusion, The New Yorker: Fiction podcast is an absolutely superb show that has had a profound impact on my literary journey. Whether you're a fan of fiction or simply interested in exploring more short stories, this podcast offers an enriching experience that should not be missed. Deborah Treisman and the team at The New Yorker have created an exceptional podcast that provides a literary education like no other. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from their insights and discussions. Thank you for this captivating podcast!
Edwidge Danticat joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Two Men Arrive in a Village,” by Zadie Smith, which was published in The New Yorker in 2016. Danticat, a MacArthur Fellow and a winner of the Vilcek Prize in Literature, has published six books of fiction, including “Breath, Eyes, Memory,” “The Farming of Bones,” “Claire of the Sea Light,” and “Everything Inside.” Her memoir “Brother, I'm Dying” won the National Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, among others. She has been publishing fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker since 1999. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Yiyun Li joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Piano Tuner's Wives,” by William Trevor, which was published in The New Yorker in 1995. Li has published eight books of fiction, including the novels “Must I Go” and “Book of Goose,” a winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and the story collection “Wednesday's Child,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2024. A new nonfiction work, “Things in Nature Merely Grow,” will be published this month. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
David Wright Faladé joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Lu, Reshaping,” by Madeleine Thien, which was published in The New Yorker in 2021. Falade is the author of the novels “Black Cloud Rising” and “The New Internationals,” and the nonfiction work “Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers.” He's been publishing fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker since 2020. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Paul Theroux joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Necklace,” by V. S. Pritchett, which was published in The New Yorker in 1958. Theroux's nonfiction books include “The Great Railway Bazaar” and “On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey.” A winner of the James Tait Black Award and the Whitbread Prize, he has published thirty-nine books of fiction, including the novels “The Mosquito Coast” and “Burma Sahib” and the story collections “Mr. Bones” and “The Vanishing Point,” which came out earlier this year. He has been publishing fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker since 1979. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Anne Enright joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Sierra Leone,” by John McGahern, which was published in The New Yorker in 1977. Enright, a winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, among others, has published eleven books of fiction, including the story collection “Yesterday's Weather” and the novels “Actress” and “The Wren, The Wren.” She has been publishing fiction in The New Yorker since 2000. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jennifer Egan joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Kat,” by Margaret Atwood, which was published in The New Yorker in 1990. Egan's books of fiction include “The Keep,” “A Visit from the Goon Squad,” “Manhattan Beach,” and “The Candy House.” She is a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, among other honors. She has been publishing fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker since 1989. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Ayşegül Savaş joins Deborah Treisman to discuss “An Abduction,” by Tessa Hadley, which was published in The New Yorker in 2012. Savaş has published three novels, “Walking on the Ceiling,” “White on White,” and “The Anthropologists,” and one nonfiction book, “The Wilderness,” an essay and memoir about the first forty days of motherhood. A collection of stories, “Long Distance,” will come out in 2025. She has been publishing fiction in The New Yorker since 2019.
Aleksandar Hemon joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere,” by ZZ Packer, which was published in The New Yorker in 2000. Hemon, a winner of a MacArthur Fellowship and a PEN/W. G. Sebald Award, among others, is the author of eight books, including the novels “The Lazarus Project” and “The World and All It Holds,” the story collection “Love and Obstacles,” and two nonfiction works, “The Book of My Lives” and “My Parents: an Introduction.”Share your thoughts on The New Yorker's Fiction Podcast. As a token of our appreciation, you will be eligible to enter a prize drawing up to $1,000 after you complete the survey.https://selfserve.decipherinc.com/survey/selfserve/222b/76152?pin=1&uBRANDLINK=4&uCHANNELLINK=2
Rebecca Makkai joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Third and Final Continent,” by Jhumpa Lahiri, which was published in The New Yorker in 1999. Makkai is the author of the story collection “Music for Wartime” and the novels “The Borrower,” “The Hundred Year House,” “The Great Believers,” for which she won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and “I Have Some Questions for You,” which was published last year.
Louise Erdrich joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Haunting Olivia,” by Karen Russell, which was published in The New Yorker in 2005. Erdrich's novels include “The Round House,” which won the National Book Award in 2012, and “The Night Watchman,” which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2021. She will publish a new novel, “The Mighty Red,” this fall.
David Sedaris joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Love Letter,” by George Saunders, which was published in The New Yorker in 2020. Sedaris is the author of more than a dozen books of essays, memoirs, and diaries, including, most recently, “A Carnival of Snackery” and “Happy-Go-Lucky.”
Nathan Englander joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Every Night for a Thousand Years,” by Chris Adrian, which was published in The New Yorker in 1997. Englander is the author of five books of fiction, including the novel “kaddish.com” and the story collection “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2013.
André Alexis joins Deborah Treisman for a special tribute to Alice Munro, who died in May at age ninety-two. Alexis reads and discusses “Before the Change,” by Munro, which was published in The New Yorker in 1998. Alexis's works of fiction include “Fifteen Dogs,” which won the Giller Prize, “Days by Moonlight,” and the story collection “The Night Piece,” which was published in 2020.
David Bezmozgis joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Likes,” by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, which was published in The New Yorker in 2017. Bezmozgis is a filmmaker and writer. He has published two story collections and two novels, “The Free World,” which was a finalist for the Governor General's Award and the Giller Prize, and “The Betrayers,” which won the National Jewish Book Award. He was also chosen as one of The New Yorker's 20 Under 40 in 2010.
David Bezmozgis joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Likes,” by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, which was published in The New Yorker in 2017. Bezmozgis is a filmmaker and writer. He has published two story collections and two novels, “The Free World,” which was a finalist for the Governor General's Award and the Giller Prize, and “The Betrayers,” which won the National Jewish Book Award. He was also chosen as one of The New Yorker's 20 Under 40 in 2010.
Greg Jackson joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Safari,” by Jennifer Egan, which was published in The New Yorker in 2010. Jackson has published a story collection, “Prodigals,” and a novel “The Dimension of a Cave,” which was one of The New Yorker's Best Books of 2023. He has been publishing in the magazine since 2014.
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Labyrinth,” by Roberto Bolaño, translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews, which was published in The New Yorker in 2012. HolyWhiteMountain is a Jones Lecturer at Stanford, and grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.
In the two hundredth episode of the New Yorker Fiction Podcast, Rivka Galchen joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Bees, Part 1,” by Aleksandar Hemon, which was published in The New Yorker in 2002. Galchen's books include the story collection “American Innovations” and the novel “Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch.”
Teju Cole joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “1=1,” by Anne Carson, which was published in The New Yorker in 2016. Cole's novels include “Open City” and “Tremor,” which was published this year.
Margaret Atwood joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Varieties of Exile,” by Mavis Gallant, which was published in The New Yorker in 1976. Atwood is the author of more than forty books of poetry and fiction, including the novels “The Handmaid's Tale” and “The Testaments” and the story collection “Old Babes in the Wood,” which was published earlier this year. This is the first episode of the New Yorker Fiction Podcast to be recorded in front of a live audience. It was taped at the Hot Docs podcast festival, in Toronto, on October 21, 2023.
Lucinda Rosenfeld joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Returns,” by Annie Ernaux, translated from the French by Deborah Treisman, which was published in The New Yorker in 20233. Rosenfeld is the author of five novels, including “I'm So Happy for You” and “Class.”
Andrew O'Hagan joins Deborah Treisman to discuss “An Actor Prepares,” by Donald Antrim, which was published in The New Yorker in 1999. O'Hagan is the author of six novels, including “The Illuminations” and “Mayflies,” which was published in 2020 and won the Los Angeles Times Christopher Isherwood Prize.
David Means joins Deborah Treisman to discuss “Face Time,” by Lorrie Moore, which was published in The New Yorker in 2020. Means is the author of a novel and six story collections, including “Instructions for a Funeral” and “Two Nurses, Smoking,” which came out in 2022.
George Saunders joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “So Late in the Day,” by Claire Keegan, which was published in The New Yorker in 2022. Saunders is the author of the novel “Lincoln in the Bardo,” and five story collections, including “Tenth of December” and “Liberation Day,” which came out last year.
Ottessa Moshfegh joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Two Ruminations on a Homeless Brother,” by David Means, which was published in The New Yorker in 2017. Moshfegh is the author of four novels, including “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” and “Lapvona.”
Jonas Hassen Khemiri joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “A Slice of Life,” by Vladimir Nabokov, translated from the Russian text of 1925, by Dmitri Nabokov, in collaboration with the author, which was published in The New Yorker in 1976. Khemiri is a Swedish fiction writer and playwright whose novels include “The Family Clause” and “Everything I Don't Remember.”
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Ill Seen Ill Said,” by Samuel Beckett, which was published in The New Yorker in 1981. Sayrafiezadeh is the author of a memoir and two story collections, the most recent of which, “American Estrangement,” was published in 2021.
We're pleased to announce that “In The Dark,” the acclaimed investigative podcast from American Public Media, is joining The New Yorker and Condé Nast Entertainment. In its first two seasons, “In The Dark,” hosted by the reporter Madeleine Baran, has taken a close look at the criminal-justice system in America. The first season examined the abduction and murder, in 1989, of eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling, and exposed devastating failures on the part of law enforcement. The second season focussed on Curtis Flowers, a Black man from Winona, Mississippi, who was tried six times for the same crime. When the show's reporters began looking into the case, Flowers was on death row. After their reporting, the Supreme Court reversed Flowers's conviction. Today, he is a free man. A third season of “In The Dark,” which will be the show's most ambitious one yet, is on its way. David Remnick recently sat down with Baran and the show's managing producer, Samara Freemark, to talk about the remarkable first two seasons of the show, and what to expect in the future. To listen to the entirety of the “In The Dark” catalogue, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Claire-Louise Bennett joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Family Walls,” by Maeve Brennan, which was published in The New Yorker in 1973. Bennett has published two books of fiction, “Pond” and “Checkout 19.”
Clare Sestanovich joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Moons of Jupiter” by Alice Munro, which was published in The New Yorker in 1978. Sestanovich's story collection, “Objects of Desire,” was published in 2021.
Gary Shteyngart joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Omakase,” by Weike Wang, which was published in *The New Yorker* in 2018. Shteyngart is the author of five novels including, most recently, “Lake Success” and “Our Country Friends.”
Ling Ma joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Seeing Ershadi,” by Nicole Krauss, which was published in The New Yorker in 2018. Ma is the author of the novel “Severance” and the story collection “Bliss Montage,” which came out in September.
Jamil Jan Kochai joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “All Will Be Well,” by Yiyun Li, which was published in The New Yorker in 2019. Kochai is the author of two books, the novel “99 Nights in Logar,” which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the story collection “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak,” which is a finalist for the National Book Award. He is currently a Hodder Fellow at Princeton.
Madeleine Thien joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain,” by Yoko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder, which was published in The New Yorker in 2004. Thien's books include the novels “Dogs at the Perimeter” and “Do Not Say We Have Nothing,” which won the Governor General's Literary Award and the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Elif Batuman joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Truth and Fiction,” by Sylvia Townsend Warner, which was published in The New Yorker in 1961. Batuman is the author of one book of nonfiction, “The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them,” and two novels, “The Idiot” and “Either/Or,” which was published earlier this year. She has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2010.
André Alexis joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Waiting for Death in a Hotel,” by Italo Calvino, translated, from the Italian, by Martin McLaughlin, which was published in The New Yorker in 2006. Alexis's novels include “Childhood,” “Days by Moonlight,” and “Fifteen Dogs,” which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2015. 2022 © Italo Calvino, performed with permission of The Wylie Agency LLC.
Akhil Sharma joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Zombie,” by Joyce Carol Oates, which was published in The New Yorker in 1994. Sharma is the author of the novels “Family Life” and “An Obedient Father,” which will be reissued in a revised version this month.
Rachel Kushner joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Come Into the Drawing Room, Doris,” by Edna O'Brien, which was published in The New Yorker in 1962. Kushner is the author of three novels and most recently the essay collection “The Hard Crowd,” which was published last year.
Camille Bordas joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “A Father-to-Be,” by Saul Bellow, which was published in The New Yorker in 1955. Bordas's novel “How to Behave in a Crowd,” was published in 2017
Sherman Alexie joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Where I'm Calling From,” by Raymond Carver, which was published in The New Yorker in 1982. Alexie is the author of nineteen books of fiction and poetry, including “Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories” and the novel “Flight.”
Gish Jen joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Friends,” by Grace Paley, which was published in The New Yorker in 1979. Jen is the author of nine books, including the novel “The Resisters” and the story collection “Thank you, Mr. Nixon,” which was published in February.
Alejandro Zambra joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Loneliness,” by Bruno Schulz, translated from the Polish by Celina Wieniewska, which was published in The New Yorker in 1977. Zambra is a Chilean poet, novelist, and story writer whose most recent novel, “Chilean Poet,” will be published in English this month.
Kevin Barry joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “A Family Man,” by V. S. Pritchett, which was published in The New Yorker in 1977. Barry is a winner of the International Dublin Literary Award and the author of six books of fiction, most recently the story collection “That Old Country Music,” which came out in 2020.
Will Mackin joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Falls,” by George Saunders, which was published in The New Yorker in 1996. Mackin's first book, “Bring Out the Dog,” was published in 2018 and won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection.
Ben Lerner joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “In the Name of Bobby,” by Julio Cortázar, translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa, which was published in The New Yorker in 1979. Lerner is the author of seven books of fiction and poetry, including the novels “10:04” and “The Topeka School,” which was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
Donald Antrim joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Balloon,” by Donald Barthelme, which was published in The New Yorker in 1966. Antrim is the author of three novels and the story collection “The Emerald Light in the Air.” His memoir, “One Friday in April: A Story of Suicide and Survival,” will be published this month. “The Balloon” (c) 1966, by Donald Barthelme, performed with permission of the Wylie Agency, LLC.