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Short story writer and Syracuse University professor George Saunders will be a guest on "The Colbert Report" at 11:31 p.m. today on cable's Comedy Central.
(Courtesy photo)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse University professor and writer George Saunders will appear on "The Colbert Report" at 11:31 p.m. today on Comedy Central. Saunders will promote his latest book, "Congratulations, by the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness" (Random House). The book is a bound copy of his convocation speech at Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences last May. In his address, Saunders made the case to graduating students for practicing kindness in their daily lives.
The speech went viral last summer and Saunders was interviewed on "Good Morning America" about its message.The book was published Tuesday.
Expect verbal jousting to take place when Saunders sits across from political satirist Stephen Colbert who assumes the persona of a right-wing talk show host for his late night cable show. This isn't Saunders first match up with Colbert. He was a guest in October 2007 to talk about civil discourse and his book "The Braindead Megaphone." Last year, he was on the show when his short story collection, "Tenth of December," was published. Colbert quizzed Saunders about why he writes short stories.
The short story writer has had little time of late to write. Besides the book tour that began on Tuesday at the powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn, Saunders collected several prestigious literary prizes in March. He received The Story Prize and its $20,000 award and was the inaugural winner of The Folio Prize in London. The Folio came with $67,000 in prize winnings.