Conversations with George Saunders

by Michael O'Connell (Editor)

Besides being one of America’s most celebrated living authors, George Saunders (b. 1958) is also an excellent interview subject. In the fourteen interviews included in Conversations with George Saunders , covering nearly twenty years of his career, the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December provides detailed insight into his own writing process and craft, alongside nuanced interpretations of his own work. He also delves into aspects of his biography, including anecdotes from his childhood and his experiences as both a student and teacher in MFA programs, as well as reflections on how parenthood affected his writing, the role of religious belief and practice in his work, and how he has dealt with his growing popularity and fame. Throughout this collection, we see him in conversation with former students, fellow writers, mainstream critics, and literary scholars. In each instance, Saunders is eager to engage in meaningful dialogue about what he calls the “big questions of our age.” In a number of interviews, he reflects on the moral and ethical responsibility of fiction, as well as how his work engages with issues of social and political commentary. But at the same time, these interviews, like all of Saunders’s best work, are funny, warm, surprising, and wise. Saunders says he has “always enjoyed doing interviews” in part because he views “intense, respectful conversation [as], really, an artform—an exploration of sorts.” Readers of this volume will have the pleasure of joining him in this process of exploration.

236 pages, Paperback

Published June 27, 2022

Reviews

[Steve Ellerhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stop what you're doing and get your hands on this book. Especially if you're a writer. As George Saunders rightly reflects in the introduction, some of his best work has been interviews with him. His gifts for discussing the process of writing are considerable, considering it's that which there's never really any way to really talk about it. I've found his thoughts on fiction and its creation immensely helpful as a writer for the past fifteen years and this book finally collects the best of them in one place where they're handy and easily accessible. Editor Michael O'Connell has done a superb job curating these interviews, a huge challenge because there are so many good ones and not all could fit. What you get here is the best of the best. My compliments to Saunders and O'Connell both!

[Jack Bentele]

Intuitive decisions made at speed, worked over to express a depth of history that makes one swoon at a wink or sigh alike