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 our seasonal series of short stories selected by leading novelists

Zadie Smith on Giuseppe Pontiggia's Umberto Buti – books podcast

Dec 31st, 2018 25m 50s

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 short stories selected by leading novelists

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Ama Ata Aidoo – books podcast

Dec 26th, 2018 46m 4s

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shares why she admires the ‘old-fashioned social realism’ of the Ghanaian writer’s No Sweetness Here, then reads the story, as part of our seasonal series of short stories selected by leading novelists

Neil Gaiman on Rudyard Kipling's The Gardener – books podcast

Dec 25th, 2018 33m 2s

Neil Gaiman introduces Rudyard Kipling’s The Gardener, a melancholy tale from 1925, as part of our seasonal series of short stories selected by leading novelists. Afterwards, the story is read by actor Marion Bailey

Penelope Lively on MR James' Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad – books podcast

Dec 24th, 2018 50m 58s

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 part of our seasonal series of short stories selected by leading novelists

Jonathan Safran Foer on Aleksandar Hemon's The Bees, Part 1 – short story podcast

1 Jan 9th, 2018 46m 17s

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

Jan 5th, 2018 30m 54s

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

Jan 2nd, 2018 16m 4s

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

Dec 29th, 2017 32m 57s

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 actor Marion Bailey

Penelope Lively on MR James's Oh Whistle and I'll Come to you, my lad - short story podcast

Dec 26th, 2017 50m 51s

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

May 23rd, 2013 28m 31s

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

Jan 4th, 2013 6m 19s

Jorge Luis Borges’s combination of the anecdotal, philosophical and the literary showed Will Self how to achieve the ‘truly veridical’. He gets his coordinates from ‘On Exactitude in Science’

Nathan Englander reads 'The Story of My Dovecote' by Isaac Babel

Jan 3rd, 2013 32m 30s

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

Jan 2nd, 2013 16m 1s

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

Jan 1st, 2013 25m 18s

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

1 Dec 31st, 2012 32m 46s

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

Dec 30th, 2012 45m 29s

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

Dec 29th, 2012 25m 19s

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

Dec 28th, 2012 26m 26s

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

Dec 27th, 2012 46m 3s

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

Dec 26th, 2012 40m 43s

José Saramago tackles the conflict between mind and body in ‘The Centaur’, says Nadine Gordimer

Simon Callow reads 'The Christmas Tree' by Charles Dickens

Dec 25th, 2012 39m 39s

Charles Dickens celebrated Christmas throughout his writing life. His autobiographical story ‘A Christmas Tree’ is ‘almost Proustian’, says Simon Callow