Aslan, Reza
An internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions, Dr. Reza Aslan has garnered much critical praise for his work on Islam and the west. In his book How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror, as renowned author Jon Meacham notes, “it is Aslan’s great gift to see things clearly, and to say them clearly, and in this important new work he offers us a way forward.”
Aslan’s first book was the New York Times Bestseller, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, which has been translated into thirteen languages, short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award in the UK, and nominated for a PEN USA award for research Non-Fiction. In 2010, Norton will publish his edited anthology, Words Without Borders: Writings from the Middle East.
Dr. Aslan is co-founder of BoomGen Studios, the first ever motion-picture company focused entirely on entertainment about the greater Middle East and its diaspora communities, as well as editorial executive of Mecca.com. A contributing editor at the Daily Beast, he holds degrees in religions from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. Born in Iran, he now lives in Los Angeles where he is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. Sponsored by Kay and Don Gardner.
