A Chat...
...with two glowing former students.
On the occasion of Paula and my 37th (!) anniversary, I offer you this interview the two of us recently did with my beloved former students Annie Liontas (author, most recently, of Sex with a Brain Injury) and the poet, essayist and short story writer Lito Velasquez, on their podcast LitFriends. The podcast is concerned with the question of literary friendships, of all kinds. Lito and Annie were both MFA students in the Syracuse program but not at the same time - they struck up their (enduring) literary friendship later. On the podcast (this episode and others) they talk a lot about the ways writers support one another. Story Club is, of course, I hope, is one example of this.
As you’ll hear on the podcast, these are two of the most generous, dear, and insightful people you’ll ever meet. And they are also both wildly talented writers.
Hope you enjoy the podcast. Thanks to Lito and Annie.
I’m also very happy to let you all know that Paula’s second novel, Starting from Here, will be published by Random House in Fall, 2025. It’s a beautiful, inspiring book that picks up where her first, The Distance Home, left off. I’ll have more to say about it here as the publication date approaches…
The two of us are just setting out on a little one-week anniversary road trip to Arizona. Here’s a photo from a (much) earlier road trip - this is a week or so days after our wedding (so, May or June, 1987) and we’re in front of her childhood home in South Dakota, about to start back for Syracuse.
It has been the great honor and good fortune of my life to be married to you, Paula. Thank you so much for everything.
Happy Anniversary to both of you. And since we maybe have Paula’s attention here too.…thank you Paula for sharing your fabulous husband with us! We are all so lucky to be included in the Saunders adventure.
Wonderful hearing you and Paula talking about your relationship and writing George. I am all ears when you talk about Syracuse. I was at Syracuse School of Architecture '68 - '72 . I lived on Westcott Street for a time. I moved to Maine in 1976 in a 1966 Ford pickup and even took along a kitchen sink. (The house had no plumbing to start). Some of the locals didn't like Fords, and one guy called it the "Fix Or Repair Daily" truck. Is that an Alaskan Camper?