George Saunders, Hilary Mantel among Time’s 100 most influential

Fiction writers don’t often get credit for their influence on the world -- it is often invisible and unheralded. But among those on Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, released Thursday, were two surprising names: short story maven George Saunders and novelist Hilary Mantel.

They keep company with “Leaders,� (President Obama, Wayne LaPierre, Kim Jong Un), “Titans� (Jay-Z, LeBron James, Elon Musk) and “Icons� (Malala Yousafzai, Lena Dunham, Gabrielle Giffords) whom Time judged have held sway this year. The two writers are included in the “Artists� category, which also includes Christina Aguilera, Steven Spielberg and Jennifer Lawrence, among others.

Poet and memoirist Mary Karr profiles Saunders in the Time issue, writing that his work “is a stiff tonic for the vapid agony of contemporary living -- great art from the greatest guy.� Karr praises Saunders’ modesty, humor, and “bristly mustache of a Russian cavalry officer.� Saunders, a master of the short form (most recently the story “Fox 8�), has received a great deal of attention this year since the publication of his collection “The Tenth of December.�

Mantel is profiled by biographer Claire Tomalin, who praises the British writer’s “power, wit, and intelligence.� Mantel’s inclusion in the Time 100 comes as the cherry on top of a very good week -- one that saw the novelist shortlisted for both the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for her book “Bringing Up the Bodies.�

A large number of the other honorees have also written books in the course of their careers. New author Sheryl Sandberg is included in the “Titans� list (no surprise there -- her book “Lean In� not only generated its own media frenzy pre-publication, but it also now tops both the bestseller lists), with a profile by feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Comedian Mindy Kaling, whose second book should be out, as she put it, “in like a year and a half,� was also included. Lena Dunham and Malala Yousafzai, who are also on the list, have books coming out later this year.

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