George, it is such a pleasure.

We haven't seen each other since the before times, I guess.

We were at the Sydney Writers Festival.

I was just thinking about that wonderful dinner.

It seems like something from another era, doesn't it?

It really, really does.

I know.

And I feel like I'm thrilled to continue the conversation now

with a bit of a sort of sorbet between courses

of a few years.

Likewise.

Thanks so much for doing this.

It's so fun.

Of course.

You know, it was great to hear your stories on selected shorts.

In particular, to hear two stories in a row,

a kind of like a corneacopia of George Saunders.

And I was thinking about how they're both kind of very interested

in the tensions between action and inaction.

I mean, is that something you were aware of in either one

or thinking of them together?

Well, it's something I'm always living with.

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