SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/24/09 -- The San Francisco Chronicle will publish select content and be the exclusive presenter in the Bay Area for the San Francisco Panorama, a limited-edition issue of the McSweeney's Quarterly Concern available starting Dec. 8, both companies announced today.

The Panorama will be a 300-plus-page, single-edition newspaper published by McSweeney's, the independent San Francisco publishing house founded by author and philanthropist Dave Eggers.

The Panorama features the contributions of Michael Chabon, Stephen King, Andrew Sean Greer, William T. Vollmann, and Junot Diaz. It also includes writing from such acclaimed Bay Area authors as Michelle Tea, Tom Barbash, Robert Hass, and Daniel Alarcon, Eggers and many others.

Six months in the making by McSweeney's staff based in San Francisco's Mission District, the Panorama will comprise a main news section including investigative reports, arts and sports sections, a magazine, a book review section, pull out posters and comics. The newspaper will be printed on a 15- by 22-inch broadsheet, which harkens back to the classic days of newspapers.

"The Panorama in part is a way to demonstrate the many things that newspapers can do uniquely well, and how necessary they are to a thriving democracy," Eggers said. "From the beginning, we conceived of this as a way to show readers how much newsprint can do, and how essential to the craft of journalism readers' support of print is."

The Panorama, Issue 33 of the Quarterly, is the creation of the McSweeney's staff and edited by Eggers, who once worked at The Chronicle and was raised as a devoted newspaper reader in Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism.

"The Panorama may be the biggest, most creative and famously bylined edition of a newspaper ever printed," said Ward Bushee, Chronicle editor. "It reflects McSweeney's devotion to newspapers. We are delighted to exclusively be a part of it."

As part of the relationship Bushee said The Chronicle will exclusively publish select content from the Panorama starting in December.

"We're proud to have The Chronicle promote the Panorama in the Bay Area and make it readily available to any of their subscribers who wishes to pre-order a copy," said Oscar Villalon, McSweeney's publisher. "We believe the deep interest the paper has shown in the ideas contained in the Panorama can lead to further collaborations between The Chronicle and McSweeney's."

Eggers, who has written for The New York Times and worked for a time at the SF Weekly, did freelance work for The Chronicle's promotions department when he first moved to the Bay Area. His writing career was taking shape and he wrote book reviews and made other contributions while at The Chronicle. "I have a deep affection for the Chronicle, ever since they gave me a job when I was a struggling young j-school grad," he said.

At one point, Eggers was assigned to design the ad campaign for The Chronicle's annual Season of Sharing Fund. "Season of Sharing has always been a model in my mind for how giving should work on a community level,'' he said. "Grants given straight to the people who need them. No fuss, little overhead. The Chronicle makes it happen, and it's just a clear demonstration of how committed they are to the Bay Area."

Readers can pre-order purchase the Panorama through SFGate.com. Chronicle subscribers who pre-order it can have it delivered with their Chronicle. The Panorama also can be pre-ordered on the McSweeney's Web site, and will be available for purchase in bookstores. Copies will be sold for $16.

On Dec. 8 -- and only for that day -- a limited number of the Panorama will be on sale for $5 at locations all over San Francisco.

About the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com

The six-time Pulitzer Prize-winning San Francisco Chronicle is the Bay Area's leading news and information source and has been connecting the region with its award-winning journalism since its founding in 1865. Combined with its online home, SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle reaches 1.9 million Bay Area adults each week.

About McSweeney's

McSweeney's began in 1998 as a literary journal, edited by Dave Eggers, that published only works rejected by other magazines. But after the first issue, the journal began to publish pieces primarily written with McSweeney's in mind. Since then, McSweeney's has attracted work from some of the finest writers in the country, and has received numerous awards for its design and writing. Today, McSweeney's has grown to be one of the country's best-read and widely-circulated literary journals, with an expanding, loyal subscriber base and strong independent bookstore following.