The final program of American Shorts Reading Series Monday has grown into a multicultural evening that moves from the Sudan to Los Angeles and winds up back in Pittsburgh.

It's essentially two events:

Part 1 -- A discussion between writer Dave Eggers and the subject of his latest book, Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese exile.

Part 2 -- Music by Los Angeles rock band Lavender Diamond and Pittsburgh performer Steven Foxbury, followed by an appearance of Unicorn Mountain, a comedy-music collective based here.

At 37, Eggers has become a wunderkind of American letters and social activism, creating a publishing company, literary magazines and a chain of after-school writing programs in inner cities called Valencia 826.

His latest book, "What Is the What" is a hybrid novel-memoir about the life of Deng, a "Lost Boy" of war-ravaged Sudan who now studies at Allegheny College. Eggers wrote the book in Deng's voice.

Eggers was in town Oct. 22 to receive a $250,000 award from the Heinz Family Foundation for his efforts with schoolchildren. In his acceptance speech, he paid tribute to his favorite schoolteachers.

He's also the founder of McSweeney's, an independent publisher and the literary quarterly bearing its name. The Believer is Eggers' monthly magazine of the arts.

Using proceeds from Eggers' book, Deng has founded an education complex in Sudan of schools and a library.

American Shorts is at the New Hazlett Theater, North Side. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the program is at 7:30 p.m. Tickets at the door are $15, $10 for students. 412-622-8866.