What is the What with Dave Eggers & Valentino Achak Deng March 18, 2007

6:00 Reception, 7:00 Author's Lecture
Admission: $10; Free for MMH Members.

"Dave Egger’s novel What is the What illuminates the history of the civil war in Sudan through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee now living in the United States. Deng is driven from his home as a boy and walks with thousands of orphans to Ethiopia, where he finds safety — for a time. His travels, truly Biblical in scope, bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation — and a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Deng finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States, from where the story is narrated. Eggers’ novel, written with expansive humanity and surprising humor, explores the nature of the conflicts in Sudan, the refugee experience in America, the dreams of the Dinka people, and the challenge one indomitable man faces in a world collapsing around him. Eggers is the author of the memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the novel You Shall Know Our Velocity, and the story collection How We Are Hungry. He is editor of the annual The Best American Nonrequired Reading series, and co-editor of the Voice of Witness series of oral histories. In 1998, he founded McSweeney's, an independent book publishing house in San Francisco."

Official Website: http://www.gwtw.org/events.html#eggers