Tessa Hadley Reads John McGahern

Daniyal Mueenuddin joins Deborah Treisman to discuss “Two Pilgrims,” by Peter Taylor, which was published in The New Yorker in 1963. Mueenuddin is the author of the novel “This Is Where the Serpent Lives,” which was published in January, and the story collection “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders,” which was published in 2009 and won both the Story Prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Tessa Hadley joins Deborah Treisman to read “Gold Watch,” by John McGahern, which was published in The New Yorker in 1980. Hadley has published thirteen books of fiction, including the story collections “Bad Dreams” and “After the Funeral,” and the novella “The Party.” She won a Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction in 2016.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Bryan Washington joins Deborah Treisman to read “A Small Flame,” by Yiyun Li, which was published in The New Yorker in 2017. Washington, a winner of the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award, is the author of the story collection “Lot” and the novels “Memorial,” “Family Meal,” and “Palaver,” which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2025. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Miriam Toews joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Elephant,” by Raymond Carver, which was published in The New Yorker in 1986. Toews has published ten books, including the novels “A Complicated Kindness,” which won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction; “All My Puny Sorrows,” “Women Talking,” and “Fight Night”—and the memoir “A Truce That Is Not Peace.”  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Adam Levin joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Backbone,” by David Foster Wallace, which was published in The New Yorker in 2011. Levin, a winner of the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award, is the author of the story collection “Hot Pink” and the novels “The Instructions,” “Bubblegum,” and “Mount Chicago.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Karen Russell joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Stone,” by Louise Erdrich, which was published in The New Yorker in 2019. Russell is the author of six books of fiction, including the story collections “Vampires in the Lemon Grove” and “Orange World and Other Stories” and the novels “Swamplandia!,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012, and “The Antidote,” which came out earlier this year and was long-listed for the National Book Award. Russell, the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, was included in the magazine’s “20 Under 40” Fiction Issue in 2010. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Victor Lodato joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Largesse of the Sea Maiden,” by Denis Johnson, which was published in The New Yorker in 2014. Lodato is a playwright and the author of the novels “Edgar and Lucy,” “Mathilda Savitch,” the winner of the PEN USA Award for fiction, and “Honey,” which came out in 2024. He has been publishing fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker since 2012. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Lauren Groff joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Faithful,” by Elizabeth Hardwick, which was published in The New Yorker in 1979. Groff’s works of fiction include the novels “Fates and Furies” and “Matrix,” both of which were finalists for the National Book Award, and “The Vaster Wilds,” which was published in 2023. A new story collection, “Brawler,” will come out in February of 2026. In 2024, she opened the bookstore The Lynx, in Gainesville, Florida. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Souvankham Thammavongsa joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Size of Things,” by Samanta Schweblin (translated, from the Spanish, by Megan McDowell), which was published in The New Yorker in 2017. Thammavongsa is a Laotian Canadian writer. Her publications include the poetry collections “Light” and “Cluster” and the story collection “How to Pronounce Knife,” which won the Giller Prize in 2020. She has been publishing fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker since 2021. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Edwidge Danticat joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Two Men Arrive in a Village,” by Zadie Smith, which was published in The New Yorker in 2016. Danticat, a MacArthur Fellow and a winner of the Vilcek Prize in Literature, has published six books of fiction, including “Breath, Eyes, Memory,” “The Farming of Bones,” “Claire of the Sea Light,” and “Everything Inside.” Her memoir “Brother, I’m Dying” won the National Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, among others. She has been publishing fiction and nonfiction in The New Yorker since 1999. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices