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