Davar Ardalan to Speak at Convocation posted 3/3/08
Producer at NPR News will discuss her memoir, “My Name is Iran”

ADRIAN, Mich. – Please join Adrian College in welcoming Davar Ardalan at 12 P.M. on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 in Dawson Auditorium. She will discuss her fearless memoir “My Name is Iran” which offers a bracing look at the struggle for change in modern Iran. Publisher Weekly calls the book “a supreme achievement.”

The memoir traces Ardalan’s personal journey, at the age of eighteen, from the suburbs of Massachusetts to revolutionary Iran, where she previously lived under both the Shah’s reign and that of the Ayatollahs – and where she would live, upon her return, as a devout Muslim in an arranged marriage.

“My Name is Iran” also tells the story of three generations of women in Ardalan’s family who all moved between Iran and America. She uses their accomplishments and setbacks, as well as her own, to explore the troubled relationship between these two countries, the struggle for a lawful society in Iran, the role of women in Islam and what being a good Muslim means in the new millennium.

Davar Ardalan dabbled in modeling in America and anchored television news in Tehran. Her great grandfather, Iran's Minister of Justice from 1927-1932, helped to write Iran's legal code. Ardalan is currently an award-winning senior producer at NPR News where she has covered topics ranging from girls in New York gangs to Islam in cyberspace. In 2004, she produced a critically acclaimed series, "My Name is Iran," the impetus for her memoir. That same year, she spoke at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum.

Dawson Auditorium is located off of Charles Street on the Adrian College campus. This event is free and open to the public.