Sacramento-area storytellers

Everybody enjoys listening to a good story. Public libraries have long presented story-time events for kids, and since 1985, public radio audiences have enjoyed the syndicated program Selected Shorts, which features short fiction read by professional actors before a live audience. Now there’s a reading series in two cities offering that kind of live performance of short fiction on a monthly basis.

Sacramento’s Stories on Stage series is now in its sixth season, and meets on the last Friday of the month. Its January 30 session was a doozy, featuring a visit by award-winning author Tobias Wolff, whose stories were read by local actors Janis Stevens and James Wheatley.

The Sacramento series continues on February 27, featuring fiction by Elena Mauli Shapiro (author of the novels In The Red and 13 Rue Therese). She was born in Paris, and moved to the Bay Area at age 13, earning degrees at Stanford University, Mills College and UC Davis. The February 27 reading will be at the Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th Street. Doors open at 7 p.m., the reading begins at 7:30 p.m. and a $5 donation is suggested. Head to www.storiesonstagesacramento.wordpress.com for more information.

Davis’ Stories on Stage series meets on the second Saturday of the month, which (this month) means Valentine’s Day. Veteran actress Patricia Glass (most recently seen playing Annie Sullivan in the Woodland Opera House production of The Miracle Worker) will read the story Wanderlust by Laleh Khadivi (who was born in Iran on the eve of the Iranian Revolution; she now lives in Northern California, and has published two novels in a planned trilogy). Also featured will be actor Phillip Larrea reading Three, Four, Knock at the Door by author Kathryn Williams, who taught English for many years at UC Davis. The Davis event is at the Pence Gallery, 212 D Street in Davis. Doors open at 7 p.m., the reading starts at 7:30 p.m. and a $5 donation is suggested. Find out more at www.storiesonstagedavis.com.