‘Congratulations, by the Way’: George Saunders turns viral graduation speech into book

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Bestselling author George Saunders is turning his graduation speech that went viral into a book.

“Congratulations, by the Way,” an expanded version of his commencement speech to the Syracuse University class of 2013, is scheduled for publication by Random House in spring 2014.

The speech is a meditation on the importance of kindness. He says what he regrets in life are “failures of kindness” and “as a goal in life, you could do worse than: Try to be kinder.”

Text of the speech quickly spread on social networks and blogs.

Saunders’ most recent collection of short stories, “Tenth of December,” was published by Random House earlier this year.