Writing and Speaking the Truth
A Journalist’s Experience
presented by
Fariba Nawa
An internationally acclaimed journalist, author, speaker, and foreign policy consultant speaks about her journey
Any writer with a story to be told will be forever motivated by the spirit and courage of Fariba Nawa.
Living in Afghanistan, one of the world's most volatile locations, Fariba Nawa employed her knowledge and personal connections to research and report on the daily life, secrets, and atrocities suffered in this war torn region.
Determination and the skill set to have the dramatic truth reach an audience has now made Fariba Nawa an internationally recognized and acclaimed Afghan-American journalist, author, and speaker.
Her first book Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman’s Journey Through Afghanistan, is a mix of memoir and reportage about the drug trade in Afghanistan. The book was a finalist for the 2012 PEN USA award for research nonfiction.
Fariba Nawa lived and reported from Afghanistan from 2002 to 2007, witnessing the U.S.-led war against the Taliban and al Qaeda. She has also reported from Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, and Germany.
She is currently teaching journalism at San Francisco State University, writing her second book, and is in search of full-time journalism or aid work outside the United States. She is fluent in Farsi/Dari, conversant in Arabic and understands Urdu.
A few topics this extraordinary presenter will discuss with audience writers:
- How her platform as a journalist led her to become a published author and enabled her to speak to audiences all over the world
- The struggles to write about her knowledge of Afghanistan and the dangers of her work
- Many facets of journalistic writing; the life of women and children Afghanistan; the impacts of and life during the Opium War
- The perspective of women in Dubai: beyond the glitz and gold
- The importance of writing / public speaking to reach an audience and help others
More about this author:
Nawa’s public speaking experience began as a member of Logan High School’s Forensics team in Union City, California. As a sophomore and junior, she competed weekly in speaking tournaments in the San Francisco Bay Area. The exposure spurred her speaking career, and Nawa has been talking in front of audiences for the last 15 years, focusing on Islamic societies, women’s rights and immigrant life in the U.S.
Audiences have hailed her TEDx talk “An exile finds home” as moving and powerful. Major television programs including NBC, CBS, Al Jazeera, FOX and MTV have invited her to share her opinions and analyses on their news programs. She’s open to discussing and giving speeches about a variety of topics, which she has lived through or covered as a reporter. She even has a comedy skit.
Fariba Nawa's work has appeared in The Atlantic, Sunday Times of London, Foreign Affairs, Daily Beast, Newsday, Mother Jones, The Village Voice, The Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle and numerous other publications.
Nawa’s journalism awards include the Overseas Press Club Scholarship, One World Media Award and Project Censored.
She also reports for radio, including National Public Radio (NPR). She is the author of the groundbreaking report Afghanistan, Inc., (CorpWatch, May 2006 ) and a contributing writer in the anthology Under the Drones: Modern Lives in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Borderlands (Harvard University Press, May 2012).
Her essays have also been published in two other books, March to War and Women for Afghan Women.
A frequent speaker on Middle East and South/Central Asian issues, she has participated in talks at the World Affairs Council, Commonwealth Club, major universities, and has been interviewed by prominent television and radio networks.
Contact person for this meeting:
Ed Lopatin, VP, PSWG Programs
PROGRAMS.PSWG@GMAIL.COM
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