Literature types nationwide would’ve woken up with a slight unexpected tingling this morning, and not because of the usual wine-induced hangovers. The Sydney Writers’ Festival gang have pulled together a neat little surprise to help tide the gap between now and SWF 2015. Prolific author, screenwriter, editor, publisher, charity worker, and all around stand-up human being Dave Eggers is coming to Sydney for a special one-off In Conversation With event in September. Awwww yeah!
Eggers will be sitting down with Cath Keenan – executive director and co-founder of the 826 National-inspired Sydney Story Factory in Redfern – at Carriageworks in Eveleigh on September the 3rd.
For those of you unfamiliar with Eggers and his work, he is the author of the stunningly brilliant semi-autobiographical book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, as well as novels such as What is the What and last year’s The Circle. He also co-penned the screenplays to the films Away We Go (starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) and the big screen adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. Eggers also founded the publishing house and Internet satire hub McSweeney’s.
Arguably his most important work though is through the founding of non-profit organisation 826 National, which provides after school tutoring for under privileged children in the fields of English and Creative Writing. The project has expanded from its San Francisco home across the US, with organisations inspired by the model springing up in London and Sydney. Each tutoring facility is housed behind a fantastical retail shop (the San Francisco one, for example, is behind a Pirate Supply store).
You can grab yourself tickets to the conversation event right over here.
And in the meantime, check out Eggers delivering a TED talk on the genus and expansion of 826 National.
Photo: Aaron Davidson via Getty Images.
