Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

About the Book

“Zeitoun” is the story of the Zeitoun family during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath in New Orleans. Abdulrahman is a Syrian-American with a successful contracting business in New Orleans. While using his canoe to help families still in their homes, he is arrested by armed guards. The reason is unclear until a guard accuses him of being in Al Qaida. Then Mr. Zeitoun realizes that race and culture may explain his arrest.

Discussion Forums

Thursday, Sept. 22
7 p.m.
Coralville Public Library

Wednesday, Oct. 5
10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room B

Wednesday, Oct. 12
3:30 p.m.
Oaknoll Retirement Residence, 6th floor lounge

Tuesday, Oct. 18
6:30 p.m.
Solon Public Library/Solon Area Book Club

Tuesday, Oct. 25
6:30 p.m.
North Liberty Community Library

Thursday, Oct. 27
11am-1pm
UIHC Patients Library
Solarium, Level 8, Elevator F

Thursday, Nov. 3 (closed to the public)
3 p.m.
Oakdale Medical Classification Center

Tuesday, Nov. 29
11-11:50am
Kirkwood Community College Iowa City Campus
Commons

Read the Discussion Questions Here

About the Author

Dave Eggers is the author of six previous books, including his most recent, Zeitoun, a nonfiction account a Syrian-American immigrant and his extraordinary experience during Hurricane Katrina and What Is the What, a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award. That book, about Valentino Achak Deng, a survivor of the civil war in southern Sudan, gave birth to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, run by Mr. Deng and dedicated to building secondary schools in southern Sudan. Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house based in San Francisco that produces a quarterly journal, a monthly magazine (The Believer), and Wholphin, a quarterly DVD of short films and documentaries. In 2002, with Nínive Calegari he co-founded 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for youth in the Mission District of San Francisco. Local communities have since opened sister 826 centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Ann Arbor, Seattle, and Boston. In 2004, Eggers taught at the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and there, with Dr. Lola Vollen, he co-founded Voice of Witness, a series of books using oral history to illuminate human rights crises around the world. A native of Chicago, Eggers graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children.

Videos

To see a full transcript of this Democracy NOW! broadcast, visit democracynow.org.

Sponsors and Participants

Coralville Public Library, The Department of English, Hancher Auditorium, Hills Bank and Trust Company, Iowa Book, Iowa City Human Rights Commission, Iowa City Public Library, MidWestOne Bank, North Liberty Community Library, Prairie Lights, Solon Public Library, University Book Store, UI International Programs, UI School of Library and Information Science and The University of Iowa Libraries.

Read the UI News Service press release on the 2011 OCOB selection of Zeitoun here.