PICKING SATIRE’S BRAIN

Perennially bearded and bespectacled, 
author and professor George Saunders has made a living playing the savvy spectator of our consumer culture in his essays, novels, and short stories. In his newest collection, Tenth of December: Stories, which The New York Times glowingly lauded as “the best book you’ll read this year,” 
Saunders uses a robust arsenal of characters as the collection’s engine. His work often echoes Vonnegut’s in its tone and toughness but, in its own way, remains merciful, despite it darkness. Dick Cavett moderates a discussion with Saunders about the author’s life at the New York Public Library.

Tue., Feb. 26, 7 p.m., 2013