Michael Chabon is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1984. He subsequently received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine.
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Eggers is also the founder of Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, a literary journal; a co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness; and the founder of ScholarMatch, a program that matches donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in several magazines, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.
Franklin Christenson "Chris" Ware is an American cartoonist known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novels Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (2000), Building Stories (2012) and Rusty Brown (2019). His works explore themes of social isolation, emotional torment and depression. He tends to use a vivid color palette and realistic, meticulous detail. His lettering and images are often elaborate and sometimes evoke the ragtime era or another early 20th-century American design style.
The Underground Literary Alliance is a Philadelphia-based and internationally membered group of writers, zinesters and DIY writers. They seek to expose what they see as the corruption and insularity in the American book-publishing establishment while providing alternative avenues for writers who don't easily fit into mainstream institutions and agendas.
The Believer is an American bimonthly magazine of interviews, essays, and reviews, founded by the writers Heidi Julavits, Vendela Vida, and Ed Park in 2003. The magazine is a five-time finalist for the National Magazine Award.
Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern is an American literary journal, founded in 1998, typically containing short stories, reportage, and illustrations. Some issues also include poetry, comic strips, and novellas. The Quarterly Concern is published by McSweeney's based in San Francisco and it has been edited by Dave Eggers. The journal is notable in that it has no fixed format, and changes its publishing style from issue to issue, unlike more conventional journals and magazines.
Vendela Vida is an American novelist, journalist, editor, screenplay writer, and educator. She is the author of multiple books, has worked as a writing teacher, and is a founder and editor of The Believer magazine.
826NYC is a nonprofit organization located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It provides free after-school tutoring, workshops, in-schools tutoring, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications. Drawing from a volunteer base of over 2,000, which includes many teachers, writers and journalism professionals, 826NYC unites students with tutors. It is a chapter of 826 National.
McSweeney is a surname of Norse-Gaelic origin. It is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Sween or Swein, meaning "son of Suibhne". Despite claims that the personal name Suibhne is of Irish origin and derived from suibneus, suaimhneas, meaning "easy-going", or "pleasant", the eponymous ancestor of the McSweeneys was of Norse-Gaelic descent. According to the Annals of Tigernacht, Swein, Son of Cinaid (Kenneth), King of the Gal-Gaidhil, Died 1034 AD. Claims of the McSweeneys being of Irish origin and descendants of the O'Neills are entirely false and would appear to have been made up for two purposes - firstly to smooth their way into medieval Tyr Connail, where they conquered territory and became kingmakers, protectors and fosterers to the O'Donnells, who ruled that part of Ireland, and secondly, so it wouldn't appear that the O'Neills were having to rely on foreigners to do their fighting for them - especially as the 'cessing' of galoglas
826 National is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students, ages 6–18, improve their expository and creative writing skills. The organization's eight chapters include 826 Valencia in San Francisco, 826NYC in Brooklyn, 826LA in Los Angeles, 826CHI in Chicago, 826Michigan, 826 Boston in Boston, 826DC in Washington, DC, 826 New Orleans, and 826MSP.
Nínive Clements Calegari is an educator in the United States. Following ten years of classroom experience in public schools, she became an author and founded a national literacy program, 826 National. She also founded The Teacher Salary Project. Currently she is the CEO of Enterprise for Youth, an organization that empowers young people to prepare for and discover career opportunities in the San Francisco area through a three-phase program model of job-readiness training, paid internships with college credit, and ongoing career development and networking support.
Daphne Gottlieb is a San Francisco-based performance poet.
Intersection for the Arts, established in 1965, is the oldest alternative non-profit art space in San Francisco, California. Intersection's reading series is the longest continuous reading series outside of an academic institution in the state of California.
Litquake is San Francisco's annual literary festival. Originally named Litstock, the festival events took place in a single day in Golden Gate Park in the spring of 1999. It now has a two-week run in mid-October, as well as year-round programs and workshops.
826 Valencia is a non-profit organization in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, United States, dedicated to helping children and young adults develop writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. It was the basis for the 826 National organization, which has centers on the United States with the same goal.
StudioSTL is a St. Louis based non-profit that aims to develop writing skills in youth aged 6–18.
Two Dollar Radio is an independent family-run publisher based in Columbus, Ohio. The company was founded in 2005 by husband-and-wife team Eric Obenauf and Eliza Jane Wood-Obenauf, with Brian Obenauf. The press specializes in literary fiction. In 2013 they launched their micro-budget film division, Two Dollar Radio "Moving Pictures." In 2017 they co-founded the annual Columbus, Ohio, arts festival The Flyover Fest. Also in 2017 (September) the press opened a brick-and-mortar named Two Dollar Radio Headquarters on the south side of Columbus, Ohio, which is a bookstore, full bar, performance space, and vegan coffeehouse and cafe, carrying Two Dollar Radio titles as well as a selection of almost exclusively independently published books.
Spells Writing Lab, Inc. aka (“Spells”) is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that develops the creative and expository writing abilities of school-age children, 6 to 18 years old, through writing programs and teacher development. Spells was inspired by the model established by 826 National an organization started by educator Nínive Calegari and Dave Eggers, author of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," and founder of the publishing house, McSweeney's. Philly Spells is currently applying to join the 826 National network through the 826 National Chapter Development Process.
Donna Baier Stein is an American author, publisher, and copywriter.
Dan Kennedy is an American writer, and original developer of The Moth storytelling podcast in New York.
