At an Authors Guild event in his honor, author and publisher Dave Eggers offered to email personally anyone worried about the future of newspapers, books, and the printed word.

Book Bench reported from the party in Tribeca, chatting with Zadie Smith about the print magazine Eggers founded, McSweeney's. The article reprinted Eggers' speech and email address so worried readers around the world could send the novelist their fears.

Here's an excerpt: "I actually have established an e-mail address, deggers@826national.org--if you want to take it down--if you are ever feeling down, if you are ever despairing, if you ever think publishing is dying or print is dying or books are dying or newspapers are dying (the next issue of McSweeney's will be a newspaper--we're going to prove that it can make it. It comes out in September). If you ever have any doubt, e-mail me, and I will buck you up and prove to you that you're wrong." (Via Gawker)