George Saunders was named in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" for 2013. Saunders latest story collection, Tenth of December, a 2013 finalist for the National Book Award, debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times bestseller list. The New York Times Magazine, which featured it as a cover story, called Tenth of December "The best book you'll read this year."

His other works include In Persuasion Nation, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, The Braindead Megaphone, The New York Times Notable Books Pastoralia and CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, and a New York Times children's bestseller, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip. In 2006 he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation genius fellowship.

The reading will be followed by an onstage interview and a book sale and signing.