George Saunders’ new audiobook once again features a cast chock full of celebrities, Literary Hub reports.
The audio version of Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life, which comes out in January, features seven actors reading short stories by Russian authors. The featured stars include Glenn Close, Phylicia Rashad, BD Wong, Nick Offerman, Rainn Wilson, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Keith David.
This isn’t the first time Saunders has turned to celebrities for help on an audiobook. The audio version of his Booker Prize–winning Lincoln in the Bardo featured a host of stars, including Carrie Brownstein, Benjamin Dreyer, Jeff Tweedy, Susan Sarandon, Miranda July, and Bill Hader. (Saunders’ wife and children also pitched in.)
Random House describes Saunders’ book as “a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves—and our world today.” The short stories featured in the book are by Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, and Ivan Turgenev.
“It’s a great celebration, not only of these stories, but of the craft of acting,” Saunders said of the audiobook. “So inspiring to hear the spirit of Chekhov, Turgenev, Gogol, and Tolstoy coming through these huge contemporary talents, who made each story entirely new again.”
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is slated for publication on Jan. 12.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
