An Evening with George Saunders

The Esther Freier Lectures in Literature Series presents the bestselling author of the Man Booker Prize-winning Lincoln in the Bardo (2017) reading from his new novel Vigil. Professor Julie Schumacher will moderate a conversation with Saunders in this special event celebrating 25 years of the Freier series. 

This in-person event is free with registration. Live captioning and ASL provided. For further questions about accessibility services and the venue, please email [email protected] or call 612-626-1528. Presented by the Department of English. 

The recipient of a 2006 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (“Genius” Award), George Saunders has authored two novels, four collections of short stories, a novella, a book of essays, and an award-winning children’s book. His 2026 novel Vigil (Random House) takes place at the bedside of an oil company CEO, in the twilight hours of his life, as he is ferried from this world into the next; it has been praised as “a wise, playful, electric novel.” 

Saunders's first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo (2017), won the Man Booker Prize and was a #1 New York Times bestseller. His most recent story collection, Liberation Day (2022), was also a New York Times bestseller. His collection Tenth of December was the winner of the 2014 Story Prize and the 2014 Folio Prize. His work appears regularly in The New Yorker, GQ, and Harpers Magazine, and has appeared in the O’Henry, Best American Short Story, Best Non-Required Reading, and Best American Travel Writing anthologies. Saunders is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME Magazine in 2013, and received the 2025 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (DCAL) from the National Book Foundation. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University.

“The best short story writer in English—not 'one of,’ not 'arguably,' but the Best.” —Time Magazine