What is the What: the Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng; a Novel

What is the What is Dave Eggers' astonishing novel about one of the world's most brutal civil wars. Valentino Achak Deng is just a boy when conflict separates him from his family and forces him to leave his small Sudanese village, joining thousands of other orphans on their long, long walk to Ethiopia, where they find safety - for a time. Along the way Valentino encounters enemy soldiers, liberation rebels and deadly militias, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation. But there are experiences ahead that will test his spirit in even greater ways than these... Truly epic in scope, and told with expansive humanity, deep compassion and unexpected humour, What is the What is an eye-opening account of life amid the madness of war and an unforgettable tale of tragedy and triumph. "If there was ever any doubt that Dave Eggers is one of our most important storytellers, What Is the What should put it to rest...[A] strange, beautiful and unforgettable work". (San Francisco Chronicle). "A remarkable book: harrowing, witty, wretched, delightful; and always compelling, always surprising". (London Review of Books). Dave Eggers is the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, You Shall Know Our Velocity and How We Are Hungry. He is also the editor of McSweeney's, a literary journal and book publishing outfit, and the founder of 826 Valencia, a non-profit educational centre with nine locations in six cities. In 2004 he started the Voice of Witness, a series of books that use oral history to illuminate human rights crises around the world. All of the author's proceeds from this book will go to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation. Read more at website.