Plan to visit City of Asylum to spend an evening with Raza Rumi, who will be reading from a memoir he is currently writing.
Policy analyst, journalist and author, Raza Rumi fled his native Pakistan weeks after an attempt on his life that killed his driver in March 2014. A leading public voice in Pakistan’s fight against extremism and human rights violations, he is the newest writer in residence of Ithaca City of Asylum.
Rumi is the author of “Delhi by Heart: Impressions of a Pakistani Traveler” (2013) and is currently writing a memoir. A visiting international scholar in residence in the honors program of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Ithaca College, he is affiliated with the New America Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace.
Following his work as an analyst for the Pakistani government and the Asia Development Bank, he joined Pakistan liberal weekly, The Friday Times, as a writer and editor in 2008 and has been a broadcast commentator and talk show host. He also served on the United Nations mission in Kosovo in 2000, is a former director and senior fellow at the Jinnah Institute public-policy think tank, and was a director at Justice Network, a coalition of NGOs. As a freelance policy professional he has advised international development organizations, governments and NGOs.
The Salon Reading with Raza Rumi is free and will be held on Thursday, May 5 from 7:00 until 9:00 pm at City of Asylum, located at 330 Sampsonia Way. The evening begins with a reception at 7:00 pm. The reading, talk and Q&A will take place at 7:30 pm, followed by dessert and informal discussion at 8:30 pm. For more information, or to reserve your free seat, visit the Salon Reading: Raza Rumi event page, email Hannah Waltz, or call 412-323-0278.