Special Programming

Selected Shorts: Tales that Surprise

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. The reader is Mary Stuart Masterson (Fried Green Tomatoes and Law and Order: SUV). Shaun Tan's provocative short story, "No Other Country," read by Campbell Scott, gives us a glimpse of a world within a world. The 2009 winner of Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Writing Contest, "Swimmers" was written by Yale University student Daniela Maristany. Her prize-winning entry, an affecting moment in the life of an extended family, is read by Mary Stuart Masterson. Finally, a haunting and utterly surprising work by master Irish story writer, Edna O'Brien.  In "Number 10," a husband and wife 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!)

Selected Shorts: French Fiction

Guy de Maupassant's "A Parisian Affair," which depicts the adventures of a bored provincial housewife seeking the Paris of her fantasies, is read by actor Rene Auberjonois. An excerpt from Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow takes us to the public housing projects of the Paris suburb of Pantin, as seen by Faïza Guène, a child of Algerian immigrants. The excerpt is read by actress Sonia Manzano. To close, a rare 1878 piece about the phantom transmission of a musical secret across the generations, "The Secret of the Old Music," by French aristocrat Auguste Villiers de l'Isle Adam, is read by Philippe de Montebello.

Selected Shorts: Please Don't Explain

Four stories in which elaborate explanations make things worse: In Dorothy Parker's "Just a Little One," read by Broadway actress, Dana Ivey, a friendly drink turns into a hilarious nightmare of recrimination. Robert Sean Leonard (House) reads Jonathan Lethem's wacky and unexpected tale of marriage, "The Spray." Parker Posey reads Miranda July's bittersweet story, "The Swim Team," about a lonely woman who creates an unusual swimming class for seniors. To close, Tim Blake Nelson reads "Jesus Shaves," David Sedaris' characteristically hyperbolic description of his French class. 

(Airs 7-8pm; pre-empts Which Way, LA?)

Selected Shorts: Pressing Engagements

The two stories that embrace the past and imagine the future. Lisa Halliday’s “Stump Louie,” imagines a musical prodigy who takes a local radio station to new heights. The story is read by Selected Shorts host Isaiah Sheffer. Steven Millhauser’s “The Dome” is an architectural fantasy that imagines a time, in the not too distant future, when America will be entirely enclosed in a sphere, and how human life will alter as a result. It's read by Alec Baldwin.

(Airs 7-8pm; pre-empts Which Way, LA?)

Too Smart for the Room: The Lord Buckley Story

Lord Buckley was a hipster comedian in the 1950's who influenced many of America's comedic giants. His "hip semantic" renditions of literary classics delighted audiences, but Buckley caught flack for performing them in an African-American dialect. This half-hour documentary, produced for KCRW, includes rare archival recordings of Buckley performing, and interviews with Jonathan Winters and Larry Storch, plus sound of a Buckley appearance on Groucho Marx's quiz show. (Airs from 2:30-3pm and pre-empts Politics of Culture)

Selected Shorts: Jhumpa Lahiri's Two Worlds

Jhumpa Lahiri reads this stunning story of expatriate Indians attempting to find their place in American culture, often with great emotional cost, from her second story collection, Unaccustomed Earth.  “Hell-Heaven” is read by the actress Rita Wolf, who appeared in the film My Beautiful Laundrette. Following the reading, Shorts host Isaiah Sheffer talks to Lahiri about the origins of her fiction and what inspired “Hell-Heaven,” in particular.

(Airs 7-8pm; pre-empts Which Way, LA?)

Under Milkwood

Richard Burton heads up the cast in this "play for voices" by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. And the voice of the poet himself: A Visit to Grandpa’s — Dylan Thomas brings his eccentric grandfather to life. (Airs 1-3pm; pre-empts The World, Marketplace and Left, Right & Center)

A Christmas Memory; A Child's Christmas in Wales

Noon to 12:40: A Christmas Memory: Truman Capote’s poignant holiday tale, directed by Michael Peretzian in this KCRW/Mark Taper Forum production, starring Jay Louden and Mary Carver.   (Airs Noon-12:40 and pre-empts To the Point.)

12:40-1pm: A Child's Christmas in Wales: Another Christmas Memory: this one of a seaside village in Wales on CHristmas Eve, written and read by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Airs 12:40-1pm and pre-empts To the Point)

Selected Shorts: Food Fictions

Recorded live at a Selected Shorts tour to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in May of 2006, a funny, sensual, delectable collection of stories to please every food lover. (Airs 7-8pm and pre-empts Which Way, L.A.?)

Selected Shorts: Food Fictions

Recorded live at a Selected Shorts tour to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in May of 2006, a funny, sensual, delectable collection of stories to please every food lover. (Airs 7-8pm and pre-empts Which Way, L.A.?)

Goodnight Children, Everywhere

In September, 1939, as war with Germany was about to be declared, the children of major British cities were "evacuated." Their parents had no idea where they were going or if they would ever see them again. Seventy years later, the memories of the remaining evacuees are still strong. KCRW reprises our 1989 documentary, narrated by evacuee Monica B. Morris, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the evacuation. (Airs 2-3pm)

Planet Money: The Economy, Explained

Legacy Player:

KCRW and National Public Radio present This American Life's Alex Blumberg and NPR's Adam Davidson in a one-hour live stage show, explaining the global economic crisis in human terms.

We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial

This free public event broadcast live from the Lincoln Memorial includes readings as well as music performances by artists like Bruce Springsteen, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Bono, will.i.am, Mary J. Blige, James Taylor and more. There will also be...

Tinsel Tales: NPR Christmas Favorites

Stories from the NPR archives that touch on the meaning of Christmas. David Sedaris, Bailey White, John Henry Faulk -- these and other NPR voices, past and present, tell stories of the season. (This program airs from 7-8pm and pre-empts Which Way, L.A.?)

Operation Homecoming

Legacy Player:

KCRW presents writings by US troops and their families, who recorded their reflections on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for "Operation Homecoming," a National Endowment for the Arts project. (Pre-empts Which Way, LA?)