Rod Nordland

discusses

The Lovers:
Afghanistan's Romeo and Juliet, the True Story of How They Defied Their Families and Escaped an Honor Killing

This event includes a book signing

Date

Feb
9
Tuesday
February 9, 2016
8:00 PM ET

Location

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Tickets

This event is free; no tickets are required.

Harvard Book Store welcomes correspondent-at-large for The New York Times ROD NORDLAND for a discussion of his book The Lovers: Afghanistan's Romeo and Juliet, the True Story of How They Defied Their Families and Escaped an Honor Killing.

About The Lovers

A riveting, real-life equivalent of The Kite Runner—an astonishingly powerful and profoundly moving story of a young couple willing to risk everything for love that puts a human face on the ongoing debate about women’s rights in the Muslim world.

Zakia and Ali were from different tribes, but they grew up on neighboring farms in the hinterlands of Afghanistan. By the time they were young teenagers, Zakia, strikingly beautiful and fiercely opinionated, and Ali, shy and tender, had fallen in love. Defying their families, sectarian differences, cultural conventions, and Afghan civil and Islamic law, they ran away together only to live under constant threat from Zakia’s large and vengeful family, who have vowed to kill her to restore the family’s honor. They are still in hiding.

Women in Afghanistan are still subjected to some of the worst human rights violations in the world. Rod Nordland, then the Kabul bureau chief of the New York Times, had watched these abuses unfold for years when he came upon Zakia and Ali, and has not only chronicled their plight, but has also shepherded them from danger.

Praise

“From the couple’s elopement to their elevation to media prominence, Nordland’s storytelling remains gripping, with more than a hint of Shakespearean drama.” —Publishers Weekly

“With The Lovers, Rod Nordland has delivered a true-to-life Romeo & Juliet story that cuts straight to the heart. This saga of Zakia and Ali is raw, poignant, uplifting, and suspenseful, and absolutely compelling throughout.” —Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker staff writer and author of Che Guevara

Rod Nordland
Rod Nordland

Rod Nordland

Rod Nordland is currently a correspondent-at-large for the New York Times. Nordland has shared a Pulitzer Prize for news, was a finalist for a Pulitzer in international reporting, and has worked as a foreign correspondent in over 150 countries.

Photo Credit: Matthew Naythons

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1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

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