Saunders is the author of nine books, including the New York Times bestsellers "Congratulations, by the way" and "Tenth of December,” an essay collection, "The Braindead Megaphone,” and the critically acclaimed collections "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline,” "Pastoralia,” and "In Persuasion Nation.” In 2006, he was awarded a MacArthur fellowship. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University. His first novel, “Lincoln in the Bardo,” was recently published.