Award-winning author and journalist Roya Hakakian will speak at the University of Central Florida about her experience as a Persian teenager growing up in revolutionary Iran.
Hakakian will give a presentation titled “An Insider’s Guide to Iran’s Turmoil” at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, in the Cape Florida Ballroom of the Student Union. The event, organized by the UCF Global Perspectives Office, is part of two 2011-2012 themes, “People Power, Politics and Global Change” and “Covering Crises from the Frontlines.” It is free and open to the public.
Hakakian recently authored the book “The Assassins of the Turquoise Palace” about Tehran’s terror campaign against exiled Iranians, which earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship in nonfiction. She also has authored two collections of Persian poetry.
Her memoir, “Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran,” was named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2004 and Elle magazine’s Best Nonfiction Book.
A fellow at Yale University’s Whitney Humanities Center, Hakakian serves on the board of Refugees International and is a founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center.
Her reporting has been featured on television programs such as CBS’s “60 Minutes” and on ABC documentary specials with the late Peter Jennings. Hakakian’s opinions and essays have appeared in Time magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and NPR, among others. She is a blogger for World Affairs, for which she also serves as a member of the editorial board.
In addition to the Global Perspectives Office, sponsors and partners of Hakakian’s presentation include the UCF Global Peace and Security Studies Program, The Sibille H. Pritchard Global Peace Fellowship Program, Lawrence J. Chastang and the Chastang Foundation, the Orlando Area Committee on Foreign Relations, LarsonAllen LLP, the UCF Al Ghazali Islamic Studies Program, the UCF Dipomacy Program, the UCF Terrorism Studies Program, the UCF Human Trafficking Awareness Program, the UCF Diplomacy Program, the UCF Middle Eastern Studies Program, the UCF Political Science Department, the UCF International Services Center, the UCF Book Festival 2012 in association with the Morgridge International Reading Center, UCF LIFE and the Global Connections Foundation.
For a full list of upcoming events or to learn more about the Global Perspectives Office, visit http://ucfglobalperspectives.org or follow the office on Twitter at http://twitter.com/UCF_Global.