About George Saunders

George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker Prize in 2017, and five collections of stories including Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the recent collection Liberation Day (selected by former President Obama has one of his ten favourite books of 2021). Three of Saunders’ books – Pastoralia, Tenth of December, and Lincoln in the Bardo – were chosen for the New York Times’ list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Saunders hosts the popular Story Club on Substack, which grew out of his book on the Russian short story, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. In 2013, he was named one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.

‘Warm, kind-hearted and radical writing.’ – Max Porter

Photo credit: Zach Krahmer

About Vigil

The latest book from the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo – a playful, wise, electric novel taking 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

‘He will be read long after these times have passed.’ – Zadie Smith

What a lovely home I found myself plummeting toward…

Not for the first time – in fact, for the 343rd time – Jill ‘Doll’ Blaine finds herself crashing down to earth, head-first, rear-up, to accompany her latest charge into the afterlife. She soon realises however that this man is not quite like the others. For powerful oil tycoon K.J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold life, and the world is better for it… isn’t it? As death approaches, a cast of worldly and otherworldly visitors arrive. Crowds of people and animals – alive and dead – materialise, birds swarm the dying man’s room, and associates from decades past show up, all clamouring for a reckoning.

In this electric novel brimming with explosive imagination, George Saunders confronts the biggest issues of our time with his trademark humour and warmth, spinning a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the inevitable question: who else could we be but exactly who we are?

‘A ghost attempts to guide an unrepentant oil executive toward redemption and the afterlife in the staggering latest from Saunders…the novel barrels into gleefully absurd territory while posing weighty questions about salvation and justice and whether they’re even feasible. Saunders has outdone himself with this endlessly irreverent work of art.” – Publishers Weekly

About Max Porter

Max Porter’s first novel, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, won the Sunday Times/Peters, Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award and the International Dylan Thomas Prize, among others, as well as being shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. Lanny was longlisted for the Booker Prize and was a Sunday Times bestseller and Shy was an instant number one bestseller. Porter has written the adapted screenplay of Shy, filmed by Netflix in 2024. He has also written The Death of Francis Bacon, The Hill, the short film All of this Unreal Time and the pamphlet It’s Going to Be a Bright New Day. His original drama series The Photographer was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. His work has been translated into 33 languages.

He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and is a frequent collaborator with, and mentor to, musicians, artists, theatre makers and arts and literacy charities. He was previously Editorial Director at Granta Books, where he published The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, which won the Booker Prize 2013, and The Vegetarian by Han Kang, winner of the International Booker Prize 2016. He was the Chair of judges for the International Booker Prize 2025.

Two movie adaptations of his novels were released in 2025: Steve (adapted by Max from Shy, starring Cilian Murphy), and The Thing With Feathers (adapted from Grief Is The Thing With Feathers and directed by Dylan Southern, starring Benedict Cumberbatch).

‘Max Porter is one of my favourite writers in the world. Why? Because he’s always asking the most important questions and then finding answers – through innovative structures and that inimitable voice – of answering those questions soulfully, with his full attention, in ways that make the world seem stranger and more dear (or more dear because stranger). He gives his readers bursts of a new vision.’ – George Saunders

Photo credit: Betty Bhandari

For venue access info, click here.

George Saunders: Vigil

Shy

Max Porter & Simon Moreton