SPOILER: The Unpredictable Storytelling Festival Returns for a Second Year

September 16, 2026

Last week, JTS’s MFA in Creative Writing welcomed audiences to its second year of SPOILER: The Unpredictable Storytelling Festival. Over two spontaneous nights, Etgar Keret (MFA Director), Ira Glass, Françoise Mouly, and David Remnick discussed the rich (and sometimes fraught) relationship between art and friendship and provided exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at their collaboration experiences. At a book signing following the event, audiences had the opportunity to meet the storytellers and to buy books from some of the MFA program’s esteemed faculty mentors.

Kicking off the festival on September 8, long-time collaborators Etgar Keret and Ira Glass welcomed a sold-out audience to JTS. The two have been close friends and collaborators for over twenty years, and Etgar Keret is a frequent guest on Ira Glass’s public radio show, This American Life. In an energetic conversation featuring audience participation, the two discussed writing about their parents, the differences between fiction and journalism, and whether Ira Glass should attend services despite not believing in God (spoiler: the answer was a resounding yes!). A few lucky guests were also chosen at random to watch the show from seats on the stage.

Ira Glass and Etgar Keret
Edgar Keret signs books with Ira Glass signing in the background
Ira Glass and Edgar Keret take a question from a woman with a microphone sitting onstage

Photos: Nitzan Keynan

The following day on September 9, The New Yorker editor David Remnick and The New Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly treated JTS audiences to an inside look at how they pick the magazine’s iconic weekly covers. Exploring covers from across The New Yorker‘s history, the two spotlighted a few past experiences, including the challenges of picking a cover for the first issue following 9/11, unexpected cover controversies and viral moments, and how they might make different decisions today. They also disagreed and agreed in real time and had a spirited debate on the future of print magazines and adapting to the digital age.

David Remnick and Françoise Mouly onstage
Françoise Mouly signs an autograph after the show
David Remnick and Françoise Mouly onstage with New Yorker covers in background

Photos: Nitzan Keynan

Over the week, MFA in Creative Writing students were also in attendance for their fall residency on campus. This hallmark of the MFA program included 16 returning students in their second year and a new class of 18 students. Alongside workshops, classes, and craft lectures, students shared time together on campus and took part in the energy of JTS’s first day of the new academic year. Wearing baseball caps marked “Unreliable Narrator,” a few students handed out samples of their writing to the SPOILER audiences. We wish them all a vibrant and productive semester ahead, and we look forward to welcoming them again in the winter.

6 MFA in Creative Writing students wearing "Unreliable Narrator" baseball caps

Photo: Nitzan Keynan

Interested in applying for next year’s MFA? Learn more here.