Dave Eggers with Valentino Achak Deng

Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius announced not only the deconstruction of the memoir genre but also the emergence of a major literary talent. In addition to his highly original books including You Shall Know Our Velocity! and How We Are Hungry, Eggers is the founder of McSweeney's, an independent publishing house and literary magazine, and is a co-founder of 826 Valencia, a non-profit writing lab and tutoring center. With 826 Valencia co-founder Ninive Calegari and Daniel Moulthrop. Eggers co-authored Teachers Have It Easy.

Dave Eggers' most recent book is What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng. Epic in scope and full of adventure, tragedy, and triumph, What is the What depicts the recent history of civil war in Sudan through the eyes of two young men. It is based on the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, a survivor of a 1000-mile exodus and one of Sudan's "Lost Boys." In 2003, Eggers and Deng traveled by cargo plane to southern Sudan where Deng was reunited with his parents, who he was separated from seventeen years earlier during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Now living in the United States, Deng speaks widely about his experiences as a refugee and about the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

This program benefits the 826 Valencia College Scholarship Program.