34 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020
A
nn Arbor-based fiction
writer Anna Megdell’s
short story “For the
Days to Be Long Again” has
been selected to be included on
the 30th-anniversary edition of
NPR’s Hanukkah Lights series,
airing nationally on various
NPR stations during Chanukah.
The hourlong show can also be
heard online at NPR.org.
Since 1990, NPR has celebrat-
ed Chanukah with the program
of original stories inspired by
the Jewish festival of lights. The
yearly show is hosted by NPR’s
Susan Stamberg and Murray
Horwitz, who read the selected
stories. Megdell was one of only
five winning authors this year.
“It felt really nice that what
started as a personal challenge
and a desire to write in a new
way was recognized as being
worthy of being included on
this platform,
” Megdell said.
“For the Days to Be Long
Again” follows Jenny, a woman
sheltering during the pandemic,
and her search for a sense of
community through Chanukah
rituals.
Megdell, who is Jewish and
grew up in Holt, Michigan,
didn’t have to search too far for
the story’s inspiration, experi-
encing the trials and tribula-
tions of the pandemic just like
the rest of the world.
“I was trying to figure out
how I feel about this year and
all that’s been going on, and
what the holiday meant to me
in light of this year,
” Megdell
said. “I think I started from that
place — of trying to put words
to the feelings and weirdness of
this year.
”
Megdell received her under-
graduate degree in creative writ-
ing and comparative literature
from the University of Michigan
in 2012 and a master of fine arts
in fiction from the University
of Tennessee in 2018, where she
won the John C. Hodges Award.
She is currently the natural
sciences writer for the College
of Literature, Science and the
Arts (LSA) at the University of
Michigan.
RITUALS PROVIDE HOPE
As expressed in the story, even
through all the isolation this
year, Megdell thinks there can
be a lot of comfort and hope in
connecting to traditional ritu-
als — and also in creating new
ones.
“It was really important to
me in the story that lighting the
Chanukah candles was some-
thing new for Jenny and that,
even in the bleakness of this
year, new experiences and new
joy can be found,
” Megdell said.
The beginning of Megdell’s
writing process consists of try-
ing her best to follow any idea
or whim she has, even if it feels
strange or she doesn’t know
where it could connect overall
in a larger story.
“I try to write really freely
and loosely without a lot of
structure in the beginning, and
then it’s a process of forming
all the raw material into some-
thing coherent and structured,
”
Megdell said.
Megdell first heard of the
opportunity when a friend
forwarded her the call for sub-
missions for the program, and
she wrote the story in response.
She had never written anything
responding to current events
before, and also had never
explicitly written about Judaism
before, and felt that both made
this story a personal challenge
and exercise for herself.
The 2020 edition of
Hanukkah Lights aired on pub-
lic radio stations around the
country throughout Chanukah,
including NPR affiliates in
New York City, Vermont and
Nebraska. However, the two
local NPR affiliates, WDET and
Michigan Radio, appear not to
have programmed the special
for broadcast.
Megdell, who previously
worked for Michigan Radio and
is personally a fan of the state-
wide NPR affiliate, was honored
by the notice.
“It’s such a hard time cre-
atively,
” she said. “Finishing and
working on creative pursuits
this year is really hard, so it felt
nice to finish something and
be proud of it — and extra nice
that it was recognized by people
I respect so much.
”
Ann Arbor Writer Highlighted
on NPR Chanukah Series
ARTS&LIFE
FICTION
Anna
Megdell
CHRISTIANA BOTIC
Anna Megdell’s short story was chosen for
the program’s 30th anniversary show.
DANNY SCHWARTZ
STAFF WRITER
“EVEN IN THE BLEAKNESS
OF THIS YEAR, NEW EXPERIENCES
AND NEW JOY CAN BE FOUND.”
— ANNA MEGDELL