Southern California Chronicle

Gen X Literary Phenom Dave Eggers Discusses His Latest Bestseller, Zeitoun

By Pat and Samir Twair

Zeitoun author Dave Eggers. staff photo S. Twair

Our favorite bookstore, Skylight, informed us online that on Aug. 20 Dave Eggers would be signing his latest book, Zeitoun, at the popular Los Feliz literary landmark. The title—the Arabic word for “olive”—intrigued us. Reading further, we learned that Zeitoun is the true-life account of Syrian-American Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a reputable painter and contractor in New Orleans who remained in the Big Easy to keep an eye on his properties after Hurricane Katrina hit. Seven days later, he vanished.

Hopeful of taking a photo of Eggers and talking to him about his book, we arrived a half hour early and were stunned to see hundreds of people milling around outside the bookstore. We wriggled through throngs of expectant fans and found a spot where we could peek through bookshelves at the author when he arrived.

It’s a cult thing, we surmised. Eggers must be some sort of J.K. Rowling (the creator of Harry Potter) for grown-ups. A young Asian couple voiced their admiration for Eggers and Alex—he told us his name—pressed into our hands Eggers’ 2003 best-selling novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity.

The long-awaited Eggers finally arrived, wearing an incredibly wrinkled short-sleeved cotton shirt. We learned later he’d been visiting an 826 Valencia writers workshop he established in Los Angeles for disadvantaged teens. These after-school literary tutoring centers operate as well in San Francisco, Chicago, Brooklyn, Ann Arbor, Seattle and Boston.

The standing-room-only audience hung onto Eggers’ every word. In a matter of minutes, we understood that this is a best-selling author who puts his book proceeds into philanthropic endeavors. The latter includes a daily newspaper to debut Nov. 6 in San Francisco, at a time when corporate-owned dailies are dying in every U.S. city.

As yet unnamed, the newspaper will be a 15 x 22 inch format with seven sections and, the Gen X literary phenom promises, “will remind us what newspapers can do better [than the Internet].”

Eggers more than fits the description of a “Renaissance man.” In addition to running his McSweeney’s publishing house, penning bestsellers, and overseeing philanthropic projects, he’s a graphic designer and has written two screenplays: “Away We Go,” released in June, and “Where the Wild Things Are,” to be released in October.

Proceeds from his 2006 bestseller, What Is the What, which tells the story of Valentino Achak Deng, go into a foundation bearing Valentino’s name which builds secondary schools in southern Sudan. Author profits from Zeitoun go to the Zeitoun Foundation, to aid in rebuilding New Orleans, and promoting respect for human rights in the U.S. and worldwide.

While teaching journalism at the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Eggers co-founded “Voice of Witness,” a series of books using oral testimonies about human rights crises around the world. One of these projects was “Voices of the Storm,” in which victims of Hurricane Katrina describe their struggle to survive the worst natural disaster in modern American history.

Two voices that Eggers knew he had to hear more from were those of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun. Abdulrahman sent Kathy and the four children to her relatives in Baton Rouge as storm warnings called for evacuation. It is Eggers’ painstaking attention to detail that makes this riveting account of the well-meaning Syrian American’s disappearance credible and impossible for the reader to put down.

The author put two-and-a-half years into researching the book that McSweeney’s Books released in July. Not only did Eggers conduct hundreds of interviews, he traveled to Syria to talk to Abdulrahman’s family and view Arwad Island off Tartous, where Zeitoun grew up, and to Malaga, Spain, to talk to Abdulrahman’s elder brother, Ahmad.

Zeitoun, as everyone called him because of his hard-to-pronounce four-syllable first name, had a home, business and several rental properties to protect. He called Kathy daily and told her about rescuing victims and feeding deserted dogs as he rowed around the flooded city in an aluminum kayak.

On the seventh day, Zeitoun disappeared.

Zeitoun is available from the AET Book Club at the special price of $14.50 (see p. 69).

MAK Hosts Egyptian UFI Fellows

UFI fellows Salwa Rashad (l) and Alaa Khaled. staff photo S. Twair

The MAK Center for Art and Architecture selected Salwa Rashad and Alaa Khaled, who publish an annual journal, Amkenah (Places), in Alexandria, Egypt, as Urban Future Initiative (UFI) fellows to explore the relationship between Los Angeles and its Arab immigrant communities.

The Los Angeles-based MAK Center is headquartered in a house on Kings Road designed in 1921 by Austrian architect Rudolph M. Schindler. Recipients of UFI fellowships reside in another Schindler-designed home built in 1936 near legendary Mulholland Drive and Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

During their two-month residence in Los Angeles, photographer Salwa and writer Alaa chiefly took public transportation to visit Arab Americans living in sprawling Southern California. This meant a four-hour journey by bus, subway and Amtrak to commute 40 miles from Los Angeles to Anaheim. At one point, an Amtrak conductor asked Alaa for his passport. He didn’t have it with him, however, and so the couple went through another “Arab-American experience” until Amtrak officials spoke on the phone to MAK staff.

“It was good to meet and talk with the people on buses,” Alaa recalled. “We didn’t want to see tourist spots, but to observe how the people of Los Angeles live.”

This is reflected in Salwa’s photos of freeways, strip malls, graffiti-stained walls, cemeteries and places of worship.

“Wherever we’ve been in many parts of the world, we could sense the heart of a city,” commented Alaa at a Sept. 1 MAK salon, “but when we arrived in Los Angeles, we realized it’s a country with many cities with no beginning or end.”

Among an array of personalities, the couple interviewed Dr. Nabil Azzam during a rehearsal of his 40-piece Multi-Ethnic Star Orchestra. The UFI fellows also talked with Joseph Haiek, publisher of the Arab American Almanac, architect Mohamed Sharif, filmmaker Nadine El-Khoury, and KPFK Radio Intifada co-host Nile Elwardany. They visited churches and mosques, the California desert, and even a small town named Mecca near the Mexican border.

On Sept. 9, the couple gave a PowerPoint presentation of a sampling of photos and quotes of the many Arab Americans they interviewed. One of the most insightful observations that flashed onscreen was that of Anaheim realtor and publisher Ahmad Alam, who stated:

“America is called the melting pot. Everyone who comes here melts. We try not to allow this to happen to us as an Arab community.”

The couple will elaborate on their encounters with the Arab immigrant communities in Southern California in a book to be published in Egypt. For more information on MAK, visit <www.makcenter.org>.

Shura Council Hosts 9th Iftar

Shura Council participants (l-r) Rev. Dr. Steve Gilliland, Shakeel Syed and Rev. Peter Laarman. Staff photo S. Twair

Bishop Steve Gilliland was presented the Islamic Shura Council’s 2009 Justice and Peace Award during the council’s 9th annual Ramadan dinner Sept. 30 in the Anaheim Sheraton Hotel.

In addition to his work in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Bishop Gilliland serves as director of Muslim Relations in Southern California for his church.

Representatives of more than 50 community-based organizations, including law enforcement, were on hand to hear about fasting traditions in the three Abrahamic faiths. Rabbi Dr. Elliot Dorff discussed Jewish fasting and Rev. Peter Laarman spoke about fasting for peace in Christianity. Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi outlined the principles of Ramadan fasting.

Rahim Alhaj Concert

Oud virtuoso Rahim Alhaj. Staff photo S. Twair

Los Angeles’ Grand Performances programs in California Plaza are the largest outdoor free concerts in the city, and on Aug. 21 Iraqi-American oud virtuoso Rahim Alhaj thrilled hundreds in the Marina Pavilion with songs about his homeland.

In “Dreams,” the title of his first song, he musically expressed the desires of his nephews and nieces to be safe and have access to clean water and electricity. Alhaj then asked his audience if they wanted to hear more sad songs, or to have fun.

“More of the same,” they cried out. And so Alhaj performed “Dance of the Palms,” after explaining that Iraqis revere palm trees as sacred.

Alhaj was joined by percussionist Issa Malluf in a maqam entitled “Sharqi Rast.” A favorite of the program was when Alhaj performed refrains from classic Arab songs and the audience identified which country each represented.

Alhaj studied under Munir Bashir and Salim Abdul Kareem at the Baghdad Institute of Music. He has lived in Albuquerque since 2000. His latest CD is “Home Again.”

Pat and Samir Twair are free-lance journalists based in Los Angeles.