Guardian Short Storie
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Sebastian Barry on James Joyce's Eveline – books podcast
01 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Forty years after he first discovered it, Sebastian Barry explains why he loves James Joyce’s short story Eveline, then reads it for you, as part of...
Zadie Smith on Giuseppe Pontiggia's Umberto Buti – books podcast
31 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Zadie Smith shares why she loves this almost ‘anti-Italian’ story from Giuseppe Pontiggia, then reads the story, as part of our seasonal series of...
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Ama Ata Aidoo – books podcast
26 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shares why she admires the ‘old-fashioned social realism’ of the Ghanaian writer’s No Sweetness Here, then reads the st...
Neil Gaiman on Rudyard Kipling's The Gardener – books podcast
25 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Neil Gaiman introduces Rudyard Kipling’s The Gardener, a melancholy tale from 1925, as part of our seasonal series of short stories selected by lead...
Penelope Lively on MR James' Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad – books podcast
24 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You’ll never sleep in a twin bedroom again after hearing this classic Edwardian ghost story, selected by Penelope Lively and read by Simon Callow as...
Jonathan Safran Foer on Aleksandar Hemon's The Bees, Part 1 – short story podcast
09 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Jonathan Safran Foer explains why he loves this tale about the Bosnian author’s father, which is then read by Chris Moran
David Mitchell on The Monkey's Paw by WW Jacobs – short story podcast
05 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell introduces one of the great, early 20th century horror stories: WW Jacobs’s spine-tingling The Monkey’s Paw
Stephen Fry on Saki's Sredni Vashtar - short story podcast
02 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A small boy’s rebellion takes a sinister turn in Saki’s classic tale – a story loved by Stephen Fry, who explains why
Neil Gaiman on Rudyard Kipling's The Gardener – short story podcast
29 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this instalment of our seasonal short story special, we have Neil Gaiman share why he loves Kipling’s melancholy story, which is then read by act...
Penelope Lively on MR James's Oh Whistle and I'll Come to you, my lad - short story podcast
26 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You’ll never sleep in a twin bedroom again after hearing this classic Edwardian ghost story, selected by Penelope Lively read by Simon Callow
James Salter reads Break it Down by Lydia Davis
23 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
James Salter, the veteran American novelist and short story writer, reads a story by Lydia Davis, winner of the 2013 Man Booker International prize
Will Self reads 'On Exactitude in Science' by Jorge Luis Borges
04 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Jorge Luis Borges’s combination of the anecdotal, philosophical and the literary showed Will Self how to achieve the ‘truly veridical’. He gets ...
Nathan Englander reads 'The Story of My Dovecote' by Isaac Babel
03 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Nathan Englander finds Jewish history, corruption and man’s inhumanity to man and pigeons in Isaac Babel’s ‘The Story Of My Dovecote’
Sebastian Barry reads 'Eveline' by James Joyce
02 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Forty years after he first read it, Sebastian Barry returns to James Joyce’s short story Eveline
Anita Desai reads The Postmaster by Rabindranath Tagore
01 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Rabindranath Tagore returned again and again to the voiceless women of Bengal, as in his short story The Postmaster, says Anita Desai
Jon McGregor reads 'Notes from the House Spirits' by Lucy Wood
31 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Lucy Wood builds a story from glimpses and suggestions in ‘Notes from the House Spirits’, says Jon McGregor
Yiyun Li reads 'Three People' by William Trevor
30 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Yiyun Li reads William Trevor’s ‘Three People’, a short story which moved her to write a story in reply, ‘Gold Boy, Emerald Girl’
AS Byatt reads 'At Hiruharama' by Penelope Fitzgerald
29 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Penelope Fitzgerald looks at the world anew in her short story ‘At Hiruharama’, says AS Byatt
Hanif Kureishi reads 'A Hunger Artist' by Franz Kafka
28 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Franz Kafka’s story of a man who starves himself for entertainment, The Hunger Artist, is ‘absurb, moving and timely’, says Hanif Kureishi
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reads 'No Sweetness Here' by Ama Ata Aidoo
27 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie admires the ‘old-fashioned social realism’ of Ama Ata Aidoo’s ‘No Sweetness Here’
Nadine Gordimer reads 'The Centaur' by José Saramago
26 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
José Saramago tackles the conflict between mind and body in ‘The Centaur’, says Nadine Gordimer
Simon Callow reads 'The Christmas Tree' by Charles Dickens
25 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Dickens celebrated Christmas throughout his writing life. His autobiographical story ‘A Christmas Tree’ is ‘almost Proustian’, says Si...
Ruth Rendell reads 'Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook' by MR James
24 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Ruth Rendell doesn’t believe in ghosts, of course, but MR James’s stories, like ‘Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook’, frighten her nonetheless
Richard Ford reads 'The Student's Wife' by Raymond Carver
23 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Despite their restraint, Raymond Carver’s ‘early-period’ stories, such as The Student’s Wife, are full to the brim, says Richard Ford
Zadie Smith reads 'Umberto Buti' by Giuseppe Pontiggia
21 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Zadie Smith launches our winter series of short stories with an almost ‘anti-Italian’ story from Giuseppe Pontiggia, ‘Umberto Buti’
Helen Simpson reads 'The Kitchen Child' by Angela Carter
22 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
In the last of our 12 tales for Christmas, Helen Simpson reads Angela Carter’s ‘triumphant comedy’, ‘The Kitchen Child’ For more podcasts, i...
Short story podcast: Ali Smith reads A Conversation With My Father by Grace Paley
21 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Ali Smith reads a ‘breathtaking, breathgiving’ look at an argument between an elderly father and his writer daughterIn the original version of thi...
Short story podcast: Tessa Hadley reads 'The Jungle' by Elizabeth Bowen
19 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Tessa Hadley reads a story from one of her ‘writing family’, Elizabeth Bowen’s ‘The Jungle’
Margaret Drabble reads 'The Doll's House' by Katherine Mansfield
15 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Margaret Drabble reads Katherine Mansfield’s ‘memorable, painful’ The Doll’s House – the first adult short story she ever read For more podc...
Colm Tóibín reads Music at Annahullian by Eugene McCabe
14 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Colm Tóibín delights in the hidden landscapes and hidden lives revealed in Eugene McCabe’s Music at Annahullian For more podcasts, including Phili...
Short story podcast: Philip Pullman reads 'The Beauties' by Anton Chekhov
08 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Philip Pullman opens our podcast series of authors reading their favourite short stories with Chekhov’s ‘masterpiece of minimalism’, ‘The Beau...
Short stories podcast: Coming soon
26 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Lisa Allardice introduces the Guardian’s forthcoming series of short stories podcasts