The opening reception features a keynote from an acclaimed author, Reza Aslan. This event is invitation only. Check the conference schedule for details of the entire program. Dr. Reza Aslan, an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar
of religions, is a columnist at the Daily Beast (thedailybeast.com).
Reza Aslan has degrees in Religions from Santa Clara University,
Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as
well as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was
named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction. He is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations, the Los Angeles Institute for the
Humanities, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He serves
on the board of directors for both the Ploughshares Fund, which gives
grants for peace and security issues, Abraham's Vision, an interfaith
peace organization, and PEN USA. AslanÕs first book is the New York
Times Bestseller, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of
Islam, which has been translated into thirteen languages, short-listed
for the Guardian First Book Award in the UK, and nominated for a PEN
USA award for research Non-Fiction. His most recent book is How to Win
a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror,
followed by an edited anthology, Words Without Borders: Writings from
the Middle East, which we will be published by Norton in 2010. Aslan is
Cofounder and Chief Creative Officer of BoomGen Studios, a hub for
creative content from and about the Middle East, as well as Editorial
Executive of Mecca.com. Born in Iran, he now lives in Los Angeles where
he is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of
California, Riverside.
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