The Daily Orange'Kite Runner' author begins lecture series
By Rebecca Strum
Posted: 10/5/09, 3:05 AM EST Section: News
Best-selling author and human rights activist Khaled Hosseini will speak Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel as the first speaker in the 2009-10 Syracuse University lecture series.
The purpose of the lecture series is to bring influential people from around the world to campus, said Esther Gray, a senior administrator for Student Affairs who organizes the lecture series. The event is free and open to the public, but is meant primarily for SU students, she said.
Hosseini is an Afghani-American author best known for his two fiction novels "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns," and his humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through the Khaled Hosseini Foundation, Gray said.
Firoozeh Dumas, best-selling author of "Funny in Farsi," will interview Hosseini about being an author, growing up in Afghanistan, his foundation and his work with the United Nations, Gray said. After the interview there will be 15 to 20 minutes of questions from the audience.
Daria Mehra, a sophomore psychology major who grew up in Dubai, said Hosseini's appearance can shed light on a country many Americans know little about.
"Most of what we get is through the American media, which limits the information we get about the place," Mehra said. "They see a way of life that they would have no idea of otherwise. Americans don't have insight into the life in Afghanistan."
"The Kite Runner" details the story of Amir, an Afghani who watches his country and life crumble as he grows up.
"The books and the author give the reader a glimpse of the world through the eyes of a kid living in Afghanistan," Mehra said. "But the story shows the oppression and what everyday life is like.
"My brother doesn't really read, but he read this one and finished it in one day. So many of my relatives have read it. It's not hard to understand, yet it has an amazing story line," she said.
Three years ago, "The Kite Runner" was SU's shared reading book that every first-year student had to read and discuss in class.
Hosseini has spoken at the university before, once in 2006 for the Shared Reading lecture, and again in 2007.
The author will donate all of his speaking fees from the lecture to his foundation, Gray said.
Hosseini's foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan to help alleviate suffering and build healthy communities, according to the Foundation's Web site.
"Remember, his books are only part of what he does and who he is," Gray said. "His foundation does a great deal of humanitarian work in Afghanistan, primarily with women and children."
rastrum@syr.edu
The purpose of the lecture series is to bring influential people from around the world to campus, said Esther Gray, a senior administrator for Student Affairs who organizes the lecture series. The event is free and open to the public, but is meant primarily for SU students, she said.
Hosseini is an Afghani-American author best known for his two fiction novels "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns," and his humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through the Khaled Hosseini Foundation, Gray said.
Firoozeh Dumas, best-selling author of "Funny in Farsi," will interview Hosseini about being an author, growing up in Afghanistan, his foundation and his work with the United Nations, Gray said. After the interview there will be 15 to 20 minutes of questions from the audience.
Daria Mehra, a sophomore psychology major who grew up in Dubai, said Hosseini's appearance can shed light on a country many Americans know little about.
"Most of what we get is through the American media, which limits the information we get about the place," Mehra said. "They see a way of life that they would have no idea of otherwise. Americans don't have insight into the life in Afghanistan."
"The Kite Runner" details the story of Amir, an Afghani who watches his country and life crumble as he grows up.
"The books and the author give the reader a glimpse of the world through the eyes of a kid living in Afghanistan," Mehra said. "But the story shows the oppression and what everyday life is like.
"My brother doesn't really read, but he read this one and finished it in one day. So many of my relatives have read it. It's not hard to understand, yet it has an amazing story line," she said.
Three years ago, "The Kite Runner" was SU's shared reading book that every first-year student had to read and discuss in class.
Hosseini has spoken at the university before, once in 2006 for the Shared Reading lecture, and again in 2007.
The author will donate all of his speaking fees from the lecture to his foundation, Gray said.
Hosseini's foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan to help alleviate suffering and build healthy communities, according to the Foundation's Web site.
"Remember, his books are only part of what he does and who he is," Gray said. "His foundation does a great deal of humanitarian work in Afghanistan, primarily with women and children."
rastrum@syr.edu
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