Paula Saunders

One of the things we enjoy most about Unbound is the opportunity to present exciting new writers to our audiences. This year we’re looking forward to introduce Columbia book-lovers to Paula Saunders, whose fabulous debut novel, THE DISTANCE HOME, was published last summer.

Paula Saunders grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota. She danced as an apprentice with the Harkness Ballet in New York City under the direction of David Howard. She is a graduate of Barnard College as well as the Syracuse University creative writing program, where she was a student of Tobias Wolff and Douglas Unger. She was awarded a post-graduate Albert Schweitzer Humanities Fellowship at the State University of New York at Albany, under then-Schweitzer chair Toni Morrison. Her first book, The Distance Home, was long-listed for The Center for Fiction’s 2018 First Novel Prize. She lives in California with her husband. They have two grown daughters.