The New Yorker: Fiction · The New Yorker

Rivka Galchen Reads Aleksandar Hemon

January 1, 2024·1 hr 7 min·5 clips

A displaced father in Canada answers his son's call with three haunting words: 'Waiting to die.'

Rivka Galchen reads and discusses Aleksandar Hemon's story 'The Bees, Part 1,' exploring a father's obsession with truth, displacement from Bosnia to Canada, and the use of beekeeping as a metaphor for family and loss. The conversation delves into contradictions between reality and fiction, immigrant experiences, and the emotional depth of Hemon's writing.

As heard by us

A quiet, exacting episode about truth, theft, bees, and language sharpened by displacement.

Rivka Galchen returns to The New Yorker: Fiction for its 200th episode with Aleksandar Hemon's "The Bees, Part 1," a story that opens on a father's plan to make art that will not lie.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The New Yorker: Fiction