Howard Junker

Howard Junker's magnum opus, A Total Junker, comprises 23 volumes, beginning with "Junkmail: brochure" and concluding with "Lord Jeff & The Closet."

He was born in Port Washington, NY, the town called East Egg in The Great Gatsby, and grew up in Chappaqua, NY, across the valley from Reader's Digest. He founded ZYZZYVA, a journal of West Coast writers and artists, in 1985, and edited 90 issues before he retired at the end of 2010. He published Kay Ryan in the second issue; Sherman Alexie while still an undergraduate; and gave Haruki Murakami his first appearance in English. He discovered F.X. Toole, whose stories inspired Million Dollar Baby, and Jill Soloway, who created Transparent.