Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction Melody Moezzi to Give Talk "Jihad for Peace" 

Writer, attorney, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction Melody Moezzi will offer a talk titled “Jihad for Peace” in Kenan Hall 1111 on Thursday, November 9 at 7 p.m.; Moezzi will discuss her experiences fighting Islamophobia, sexism, and xenophobia within a global context.

Moezzi identifies as “a proud Iranian-American Muslim feminist artist and activist,” and throughout her career she has fought for gender equality and LGBT rights from within an Islamic framework. Her first book, War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims, brings together the stories of twelve vastly different young people, all American and all Muslim. Readers of the book encounter a rapper of Korean and Egyptian descent, a bisexual Sudanese American, and a converted white woman from Colorado living in Cairo and wearing the hijab. In Moezzi’s book, these thoughtful and articulate individuals reveal that they are drawn to the logic, compassion, and tolerance they find in Muslim teachings.

Moezzi’s latest book is the critically acclaimed memoir Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life. The Boston Globe calls the book “whipsmart but whimsical,” and BookRiot heralds Moezzi as “an amazing writer, sharp and witty and very funny.” Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Daily Beast, among many other outlets. Moezzi blogs for the Huffington Post and Ms. and is a United Nations Global Expert. She has appeared on CNN, BBC, NPR, PBS, CSPAN, and many other radio and television programs, providing commentary on issues ranging from mental health to Islam in America. Moezzi has worked as an investigator with the US Department of Homeland Security reporting to the US Congressional Commission on International Religious Freedom, and she covered health and human rights as an intern for The Carter Center. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University, Emory University School of Law, and Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.

On Thursday evening, Moezzi will speak about the meaning, role, and importance of jihad as a struggle for peace and justice, a struggle for equity and inclusion, and a struggle deeply rooted in love. She will answer questions, invite comments, and foster discussion.

This event is free and open to the public. We hope you’ll join us!