"Michael Chabon and 16 of America's most prominent authors, including John Grisham, Rick Moody, Nora Roberts, Stephen King and Amy Tan have banded together to raise money for the First Amendment Project (FAP) through eBay Giving Works, the dedicated program for charity listings, starting on September 1st and running through September 25th, 2005. The authors will list for bid the chance to name a character in their upcoming books, and donate the proceeds to the FAP, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to protecting and promoting freedom of information, expression, and petition. After 12 years of assisting activists, journalists and artists, FAP is struggling financially and in serious danger of closing. Michael Chabon, a member of FAP's Advisory Board, turned to his colleagues in the literary world and enlisted them to rally to FAP's defense.

The authors participating in the FAP charity auction on eBay at www.ebay.com/fap include: Dorothy Allison, Michael Chabon, Dave Eggers, Karen Joy Fowler, Neil Gaiman, Andrew Sean Greer, John Grisham, Stephen King, Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, ZZ Packer, Chuck Palahniuk, Nora Roberts, Lemony Snicket, Peter Straub, Amy Tan, and Ayelet Waldman."