Within days of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, author Dave Eggers came to the University to discuss his book “Zeitoun,” based on the storm.
 
Eggers talked about “Zeitoun,” a story of heroism and injustice, at the Honors College Convocation on Wednesday night.
 
Eggers co-wrote the screenplay for the 2009 movie “Where the Wild Things Are” along with the director of the film, Spike Jonze.
 
His first book, Pulitzer Prize finalist “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” is based on his real-life experience of losing both his parents to cancer in his early 20s and then inheriting the duty of raising his young brother.
 
“Zeitoun” was chosen as the Honors College’s shared read.
 
“Zeitoun” is the story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian immigrant and father of four who chose to wait out the storm to protect his home and contracting business. After the storm passed, he roamed the flooded streets in a canoe handing out supplies to help those he could.
 
Six days after the hurricane, Zeitoun was arrested by a group of six police officers and national guardsmen while on his own property, according to British newspaper The Guardian. He was held for almost a month before being released.
 
As Dave Eggers rose to begin his speech, he was greeted with heavy applause.
 
“The main thing [the book] is about is personal responsibility, personal courage, personal heroism,” he said.
 
Eggers told how Zeitoun rescued a woman from her home after the storm.
 
“Only because he was listening was he able to hear this cry for help. He was convinced God put him there for a reason. This was his moment. If not for [him], this woman would have died,” Eggers said.
 
Eggers wanted to conceal the identities of the Zeitoun family in his book by using fictional names in order to protect them from any potential threat. According to Eggers, however, Zeitoun said it was “his story, his name, his family, his city,” and he did not want his identity concealed.
 
Eggers described Zeitoun as a man who “sees every place he goes as a place he could help.”
 
“By the time [Zeitoun] was in a cell in a maximum security prison there are very few people who would be open to the possibility that he may not belong there,” Eggers said.
 
Eggers concluded the night by stressing the importance of continuously improving upon the justice system in the U.S. so men like Zeitoun are not wrongfully imprisoned. It is estimated that at least 11,000 people are currently being wrongfully imprisoned in the United States, Eggers said.
 
 
 
____
Contact Parker Cramer at [email protected]