Dave Eggers is the author of six previous books including "Zeitoun " a nonfiction account a
Syrian-American immigrant and his extraordinary experience during Hurricane Katrina and "What
Is the What " a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award. That book about
Valentino Achak Deng a survivor of the civil war in southern Sudan gave birth to the
Valentino Achak Deng Foundation run by Mr. Deng and dedicated to building secondary schools in
southern Sudan. Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney's an independent publishing
house based in San Francisco that produces a quarterly journal a monthly magazine ("The
Believer") and "Wholphin " a quarterly DVD of short films and documentaries. In 2002 with
Nínive Calegari he co-founded 826 Valencia a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for youth
in the Mission District of San Francisco. Local communities have since opened sister 826
centers in Chicago Los Angeles Brooklyn Ann Arbor Seattle and Boston. In 2004 Eggers
taught at the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and there with
Dr. Lola Vollen he co-founded Voice of Witness a series of books using oral history to
illuminate human rights crises around the world. A native of Chicago Eggers graduated from the
University of Illinois with a degree in journalism. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area
with his wife and two children.
