The New Yorker: Fiction

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

A monthly reading and conversation with the New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman. read less

Our Editor's Take

The New Yorker: Fiction podcast is a good listen for fans of written and narrated fiction. Each month, a different writer joins host Deborah Treisman. They discuss and read a piece from The New Yorker magazine archives. Together, they explore the short story's impact on their lives and why they chose to present it. They also examine the deeper meanings and interpretations of each piece. From gloomy tales to love stories, these fiction pieces will captivate listeners.

The New Yorker has been a touchstone of journalism since its establishment in 1925. But as it evolved, the magazine became more than a reliable news source. It became an authority in essays, fiction, and poetry. Each issue of the magazine features a new piece of fiction. This department welcomed iconic writers like Louise Erdrich and Alice Munro. Now, listeners can hear some of these pieces read aloud by some of today's most talented writers.

The New Yorker: Fiction podcast has an incredible archive to choose from. It could be a fairytale from Haruki Murakami. Or a classic like Yoko Ogawa's "Pool in the Rain." Listeners will hear Akhil Sharma read a piece by his former teacher Joyce Carol Oates. They will enjoy Jamil Jan Kochai taking on Yiyun Li's "All Will Be Well." Sherman Alexie reflects on how Raymond Carver inspired his own fiction-writing career. With stories from Thomas McGuane and Bruno Schulz, there is no shortage of episodes to enjoy.

This podcast is an excellent fiction collection, from classic submissions to new treasures. Even listeners new to the world of fiction will find something to enjoy here. Episodes of The New Yorker: Fiction podcast last 30 minutes to one hour. New episodes come out once a month

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Sterling HolyWhiteMountain Reads Roberto Bolaño

Sterling HolyWhiteMountain Reads Roberto Bolaño

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.

Episodes

Sterling HolyWhiteMountain Reads Roberto Bolaño

Sterling HolyWhiteMountain Reads Roberto Bolaño

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.

Rivka Galchen Reads Aleksandar Hemon

Rivka Galchen Reads Aleksandar Hemon

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 Reads Anne Carson

Teju Cole Reads Anne Carson

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 Reads Mavis Gallant, Live

Margaret Atwood Reads Mavis Gallant, Live

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 Reads Annie Ernaux

Lucinda Rosenfeld Reads Annie Ernaux

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 Reads Donald Antrim

Andrew O’Hagan Reads Donald Antrim

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 Reads Lorrie Moore

David Means Reads Lorrie Moore

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 Reads Claire Keegan

George Saunders Reads Claire Keegan

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 Reads David Means

Ottessa Moshfegh Reads David Means

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 Reads Vladimir Nabokov

Jonas Hassen Khemiri Reads Vladimir Nabokov

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 Reads Samuel Beckett

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh Reads Samuel Beckett

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.

Introducing: “In The Dark”

Introducing: “In The Dark”

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 Reads Maeve Brennan

Claire-Louise Bennett Reads Maeve Brennan

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 Reads Alice Munro

Clare Sestanovich Reads Alice Munro

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 Reads Weike Wang

Gary Shteyngart Reads Weike Wang

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 Reads Nicole Krauss

Ling Ma Reads Nicole Krauss

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 Reads Yiyun Li

Jamil Jan Kochai Reads Yiyun Li

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 Reads Yoko Ogawa

Madeleine Thien Reads Yoko Ogawa

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 Reads Sylvia Townsend Warner

Elif Batuman Reads Sylvia Townsend Warner

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 Reads Italo Calvino

André Alexis Reads Italo Calvino

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.