Did everyone remember to do their One City, One Book homework and read local media do-gooder Dave Eggers' latest nonfiction work? For those of you late to class, the program intends to foster conversation between fellow San Franciscans by getting everyone in town to bury their noses in the same book (Zeitoun, in this case) instead of squinting at their iPhones all the time. more ›

Assuming you've given any thought at all to such things, you may have believed, as we did, that the Timothy McSweeney who figures in the name of Dave Eggers' ten-year-old literary journal and website was a fiction. It turns out, the man was real, and died last month, and Dave now explains for the first time that he was a mentally ill member of a family with the same last name as Eggers' maternal grandfather, and who used to write letters addressed to both Dave and his mother when Dave was a kid. It turns out that Eggers' grandfather was the attending obstetrician at Timothy McSweeney's birth in Boston, and from the birth certificate Timothy assumed that he was related to these McSweeneys. He taught studio art at Rutgers before later being confined to an institution, where he presumably still lives, from whence he wrote the letters that entranced little Dave and inspired the name for his quarterly concern. more ›

As promised, as part of their San Francisco Panorama broadsheet newspaper, the one-time printing of which is available today at various local booksellers for the special price $5, McSweeney's investigative report on the Bay Bridge is available online via The Public Press. The report includes multiple segments, including this nice timeline of the Bay Bridge's eastern span reconstruction, and this piece by Patricia Decker about the fabrication of the new span, which is being done by a Chinese vendor. more ›

Well, would you look at that. SFist landed an invite to a VIP party at the Contemporary Jewish Museum for a fete honoring Spike Jonze's re-telling of Where the Wild Things Are. Actually, it was also a benefit for 826 Valencia, the Mission district nonprofit that makes people feel good via honing the writing skills of those less fortunate. Or, it's a pirate store. Anyway, last night's festivities, in the end, were all about honoring Hollywood ilk. more ›

Dave Eggers wearing a hat indoors (grumble, grumble) while signing copies of his latest effort, , today at Books Inc on Van Ness. more ›

One of San Francisco's favorite writers in residence, Dave Eggers, was on KQED's "Forum" this morning discussing his new book Zeitoun. It's a non-fiction work, just out from McSweeney's press as of last week, about a Syrian-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun who stuck around with his American wife and children in his adopted hometown of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina only to be abruptly made to disappear by the U.S. government. more ›

Although some claim to dislike local scribe Dave Eggers -- probably because he is successful, something writers and alleged writers hate like holy hell -- you should read his new book. It's a work of nonfiction. And it's heavy-ish. It's called Zeitoun. What's it about? Well, it involves a Syrian-American man. And hurricane Katrina. And probably some super sad stuff. But why listen to us when Amazon's product description can explain it to you better. more ›

The new film Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes and with a script by local literary it-couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, received a gut-punch of a review by A.O. Scott in today's NYT that sounds suspiciously like an indictment of the attitude -- nay, "smug self-regard" -- of the writers themselves. The movie stars Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski as expectant parents traveling around to visit friends and relatives in an effort to choose a place to raise their child, and inevitably passing judgment on each. Scott writes, "even though they express themselves with a measure of diffidence, it's clear that [the couple is] acutely, at times painfully, aware of their special status as uniquely sensitive, caring, smart and cool beings on a planet full of cretins and failures." Scott doesn't exempt director Mendes from criticism, saying, "To observe that they inhabit no recognizable American social reality is only to say that this is a film by Sam Mendes, a literary tourist from Britain who has missed the point every time he has crossed the ocean." more ›

San Francisco's favorite writer Dave Eggers was honored the other night in New York City for his charity work at 826 Valencia -- the organization that tutors kids in writing skills and now has chapters in six other cities besides SF. He gave a speech, reported in The New Yorker, in which he declared that print was not dead, and that anytime anyone thought it might be, or felt down about the state of publishing in general, they could email him at deggers@826national.org and he would cheer them up, or something. Most of the crowd cheered. As the New Yorker cheekily puts it: "For a night, at least, print lived." more ›

Image credit: Michelle Malkin more ›

(Check out the actual chin scratching occurring, lower right, at an intelligentsia event. Har!) more ›

Dave Eggers, well-known author and tutoring activist via 826 Valencia and its affiliates, has been awarded a grant from the Heinz Family Foundation. $250,000 smackers. more ›

Try drowning Dave Eggers, Michelle Tea, Stephen Elliott, Beth Lisick, Barb Bersche, Eileen Hassi, or 826 Program Director Erin Neeley, via a dunking booth, this Sunday afternoon at the first 8/26 Day Festival. more ›

We usually keep things pretty simple around here -- so if you want something a little more literary, there's a plethora of clever, quirky, cute, smart, and wonderful writing at McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and associated publications (books, The Believer, and DVD-based magazine, Wholphin). Seems that the McSweeney's crew has fallen on some hard times financially, and needs to raise a few bucks and quick.They're letting interested parties know that every single item in their store is on sale. more ›

SFist Rita is out of town for work, so we are donning our tiara and gown for this weeks Swells analysis. Tra-la-la! more ›

As part of its upcoming literary arts festival, Litquake is throwing a big and-- dare we say it-- bad Between the Bridges opening night to-do this Friday October 6 at 8 p.m. The rockin' fun will be at the Regency Center Grand Ballroom, 1290 Sutter Street (Van Ness at Sutter). And we've got two tickets to give away! more ›

We are SO all over the upcoming Litquake Opening Night at the Regency Center, Friday, October 6. Written word and music kept us sane in our dork formative years, and continue to sustain us. While we used to hope those dork years were behind us, we have learned to embrace it. We can't think of a better way to celebrate and acknowledge these two cherished forces than Between the Bridges, a homage to literature with a fabbo lineup of Bay Area musicians. It's a known fact that almost all writers listen to music, now it's our turn to find out what writers musicians READ and in some cases, incorporate into their work as inspiration. more ›

Look how cute these penguins are! more ›

We were treated to performances on Monday night at the Palace of Fine Arts by Zach Rogue, Dave Eggers, Mark Kozelek, Sarah Vowell and Patton Oswalt (also the host), and Aimee Mann, during Bookeaters, a benefit for 826 Writing Centers nationwide. more ›

The creative team behind J.T. Leroy should send James Frey flowers, since his little revelations have given the J. T. Leroy hoax story a sort of also-ran quality. However, we were pleased to see the San Francisco Chronicle finally pick up the story and give it a well-sourced local angle. First up: the local literary Who's Who with regard to who was sucked in: Dave Eggers, Susie Bright, David Wigand, Michael Ray, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman. more ›

Dave Eggers and Vendela Vita are rumored to have reproduced, and to have named the girl October Eggers Vida. We're thinking that the sound of an oompah band or sight of lederhosen will make her reach for a xanax later in life. In other literary news, check out this response to a craiglist job listing. Hey, it's more than Calacanis pays! more ›

Wow, so much interesting list stuff has hit our inbox this week that we've barely had time to read our online reserves from the SFPL. Well, we've learned that if we're running behind on our reading, that booksfree, (which should just give up and call themselves the Netflix of books, because that's what they are) is there to help save us from late fees on borrowed books. Then again, if we have some cash to throw around, we can either blow a wad at our fine local independent bookstores, or we can follow popsugar's lead and bid to name a character from a book by "Authors including Stephen King, Dave Eggers, Amy Tan, Lemony Snicket, Nora Roberts, Michael Chabon and more." Finally, a place to use all those wacky pet names we've been collecting over the years. more ›

The June music issue of The Believer will come packaged with a CD compilation of pure indie rock gold. We hear that local do-gooder and author extraordinaire Dave Eggers is behind the compilation, proving his excellent taste and indubitable influence by convincing the persnickety indie rock elite to cover each other's songs. Local duo Two Gallants made the cut, as did Devendra Banhart, Vetiver and Joanna Newsom. The majority of the songs were recorded specifically and exclusively for the compilation. All this genius for only eight bucks, friends! Behold the track list: more ›

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We're so excited to hear that Alex Clemens, the dude who had the genius idea to buy up the ad space on the back of Frank Chu's sign, will be appearing on the next Real World [PDF] along with the rest of the Barbary Coast Consulting crew. From the press release: more ›

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The Dave Eggers publishing venture McSweeney's, their Icelandic printer, and the Eggers family house band are sponsoring America's first Icelandic film festival this week (on Friday and Saturday) at the Castro. more ›

Why is it that when people do readings, they get that weird This-American-Life tone in their voice? And what is it about the quality of polite clapping at bookreadings that makes it sound so poignant? Contemplate these thoughts as you hear your favorite local authors starting tomorrow and going all next week in San Francisco's local literary festival, Litquake. more ›