Poets & Writers Theater

The History of Sound is a historical romantic drama film written by Ben Shattuck and based on his short story of the same name. Directed by Oliver Hermanus, the film stars Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor as Lionel and David who travel together recording folk songs after the end of World War I.

In this Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination event, Guadalupe Nettel, Ayşegül Savaş, and Maylis de Kerangal talk about their recent story collections and how short story collections are received in the current publishing industry. Savaş’s first story collection, Long Distance, is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this video, Carrie R. Moore, winner of the University of Texas at Austin’s 2021 Keene Prize for Literature, talks about how a Solange song inspired her short story “The Rest of the Morning.” Moore, author of Make Your Way Home (Tin House Books, 2025), is featured in “First Fiction 2025” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Enoch Pratt Free Library event in Baltimore, Lydia Millet reads from her story collection Atavists (Norton, 2025) and discusses the humor in her writing in a conversation with Betsy Boyd. Atavists is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this conversation hosted by the Korea Society, authors Gina Chung and Yun Ko-eun discuss the many possibilities of the short story form, the defining characteristics of their respective authorial voices, and the differences between writing and reading stories in English and Korean.

In this 2024 Vogue Singapore video, Amanda Lee Koe talks about some of her favorite books, exploring identity through her work, and the themes of sisterhood and autonomy in her second novel, Sister Snake (Ecco, 2024).

“All of the stories, in some way, seem to be about characters moving away from their own points of origin or states of mind.” In this Green Apple Books event, Corinna Vallianatos reads from her story collection Origin Stories (Graywolf Press, 2025) and discusses her fascination with the interiority of characters in a conversation with Colin Winnette. For more from Vallianatos, read her installation of our Ten Questions series.

“I’m not consciously balancing humor and tragedy, but I know that they do exist side by side.” In this Louisiana Channel interview, Lorrie Moore talks about the nature of jokes, the emotional and tonal range of her short stories, and reflects on the sense of repetition in her novel I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home (Knopf, 2023).

Watch the trailer for the short film Greta, directed by Benjamin Font and based on the short story of the same name by Miciah Bay Gault, which was first published in Switchyard magazine.

“I’m very interested in taking away a lot of the traditional furniture of a novel and making it a shorter experience and a more intense experience.” In this Politics and Prose Bookstore event, Kevin Barry reads from his new novel, The Heart in Winter (Doubleday, 2024), and talks about Irish labor history, his time spent with Irish communities in Montana, and his experiences writing in different forms.

In this Green Apple Books event in San Francisco, Zach Williams reads from his debut story collection, Beautiful Days (Doubleday, 2024), and discusses the state of contemporary short stories in a conversation with author Kate Folk.

In this Late Night With Seth Meyers interview, Amor Towles talks about the television adaptation of his novel A Gentleman in Moscow, and bringing life to the short stories in his new book, Table for Two (Viking, 2024).

“I do think that everything you see or do or experience does become part of the material that you create with, ultimately.” In this Books Are Magic event, Gina Chung reads from her short story collection, Green Frog (Vintage, 2024), and discusses the cultural importance of mythological creatures in a conversation with Jimin Han. For more from Chung, read her installment of our Writers Recommend series.

Ling Ma reads from her short story “Tomorrow,” which appears in her collection, Bliss Montage (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022), in this 2023 video from the Windham-Campbell Prizes Festival where she was awarded a prize in fiction.

"It’s life bleeding into stories. I feel like the longer we live, the more life bleeds into stories.” In this Books Are Magic event, Yiyun Li reads from her latest short story collection, Wednesday’s Child (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023), and discusses story endings, why it can take years to finish a story, and what sustains a plotless story in a conversation with David Means.

“He’s been such a mirror for pop culture, but now he’s his own pop culture.” In this trailer for King on Screen, a documentary about the many film and television adaptations of Stephen King’s stories and novels, directors and screenwriters discuss what makes King the master of horror.

“I saw a writer who was quite new to the craft, but excited by it, and sort of experimental, and there’s a freshness to these stories that surprised me.” In this 2003 PBS NewsHour interview, renowned author and critic John Updike speaks about looking back on his early career and the stories included in his collection The Early Stories: 1953-1975 (Knopf, 2003) with correspondent Jeffrey Brown.

Jamel Brinkley reads from his new story collection, Witness (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023), and speaks about tone, reveals, and the themes in his stories with Garth Greenwell in this Books Are Magic event. From more from Brinkley, read his installment of our Ten Questions series.

In this virtual reading for the Common’s 2021 Festival of Debut Authors, Cleo Qian reads from her short story “Monitor World,” which appears in her debut story collection, Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go (Tin House, 2023). Qian is featured in Literary MagNet in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Every project teaches you how to be the writer you need to be,” says Ada Zhang in this virtual City Lights Live event, in which she reads from her debut story collection, The Sorrows of Others (A Public Space Books, 2023), and speaks about what inspired her stories in a conversation with author Belinda Huijuan Tang. Zhang is featured in “First Fiction 2023” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.