Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers is attempting, in his wordy way, to breathe new life into a) publishing and b) the art of writing--for the next generation. He's the brains behind independent publishing house McSweeney's, whose literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern touts works by known and unknown writers, humorists, illustrators and graphic artists. McSweeney's writers are characteristically funny, irreverent and experimental--not unlike Eggers himself. His prose is designed to dazzle and entertain, laden with inside jokes and revelatory tangents that illuminate his characters' central conflicts. Though he often deals with themes like death and displacement (as in his nonfiction novel, What Is the What), Eggers propels his characters forward with signature self-deprecating wit. This is perhaps best seen in his Pulitzer Prize-nominated A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, a memoir of how 21-year-old Eggers coped with both parents' near-simultaneous deaths. Behind Eggers's jokes and narrative tricks (and there are many) are solid works with a clear intent to tell a great story.