The New Yorker: Fiction

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

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.