George Saunders is the author of ten books, most recently the essay collection A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. His debut novel Lincoln in the Bardo won the 217 Man Booker Prize and the Premio Rezzori prize. His collection Tenth of December was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the inaugural Folio Prize. He has received MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships and the PEN/Malamud Prize for excellence in the short story, and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 213, he was named one of the world's 1 most influential people by Time magazine. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.