“So we baste on, birds within the oven, burned back ceaselessly into the past.”

Listen to George Saunders read his new story in the latest issue of The New Yorker. Our own Elizabeth Minkel writes on Saunders and the question of greatness.

Tonight, 12/4, in New York, The Center for Fiction, hosts “Beyond Geography,” a discussion of the role of place in the art of fiction with Jennifer Haigh, Hari Kunzru, Jennifer Acker, and Sonya Chung, co-sponsored by The Common.

“Perhaps postcards best capture a nostalgia inherent to the passerby.” Our own Bruna Dantas Lobato writes about literary postcards and how we imbue images with our own meanings for Ploughshares. You could also read about images that inspire authors from another one of our staffers, Edan Lepucki.

Things you can learn about Teddy Wayne from his essay in the New York Times Book Review: one, his first name is Derek; two, he believes the modern lit world is crazy for guys named Jonathan; and three, he once considered using the pen name D.T. Wayne. (For more, you could go read our interview, or else check out our review of his latest novel.)

Recommended Reading: Delaney Nolan’s “Buoyed Nets or a Towered Light Spinning”

PEN America has announced the shortlist of this year’s PEN literary awards. The 2016 finalists include Millions contributors Angela Flournoy, Katrina Dodson, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and David L. Ulin, among others.