Student Life - Academic Lecture Series: Half the Sky - Queens Campus

November 09, 2009 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Little Theatre, Queens Campus

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Nicholas Kristof, Columnist, The New York Times

After his thought-provoking appearance at St. John’s University in October of 2006, the Academic Lecture Series is once again pleased to have Nicholas Kristof speak on the Queens campus. Mr. Kristof will discuss his new book, "Half the Sky" which he co-authored with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn. Premier NY Times columnist, Nick Kristof ‘s book that challenges us to understand how women who have suffered extreme abuse and exploitation can serve as an inspiration for all who believe in human rights and dignity.

Now available at the St. John's Bookstore!

Available at the Campus Bookstore for only $21.31!

That's a 30% discount off the cover price!
*Books will also be available for purchase at the lecture*

“I read Half the Sky in one sitting, staying up until 3 a.m. to do so. It is brilliant and inspirational, and I want to shout about it from the rooftops and mountains. It vividly illustrates how women have turned despair into prosperity and bravely nurtured hope to cultivate a bright future. The book ends with an especially compelling ‘What you can do’ to exhort us all to action.”
-Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea”

Nicholas D. Kristof, joined the New York Times in 1984 and became a featured columnist for The Times in 2001. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who writes op-ed columns that appear twice a week.

Mr. Kristof grew up on a sheep and cherry farm near Yamhill, Oregon. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and then studied law at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, graduating with first class honors. He later studied Arabic in Cairo and Chinese in Taipei. While working in France after high school, he caught the travel bug and began backpacking around Africa and Asia during his student years, writing articles to cover his expenses. Mr. Kristof has lived on four continents, reported on six, and traveled to more than 140 countries, all 50 states, every Chinese province and every main Japanese island. He is also one of the very few Americans to be at least a two-time visitor to every member of the Axis of Evil. During his travels, he has had unpleasant experiences with malaria, mobs and an African airplane crash.

In 1990 Mr. Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, then also a Times journalist, won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of China's Tiananmen Square democracy movement. They were the first married couple to win a Pulitzer for journalism. Mr. Kristof won a second Pulitzer in 2006, for commentary for what the judges called "his graphic, deeply reported columns that, at personal risk, focused attention on genocide in Darfur and that gave voice to the voiceless in other parts of the world." Mr. Kristof has taken a special interest in Web journalism and was the first blogger on The New York Times Web site; he also twitters and has a Facebook fan page and a channel on YouTube. A documentary about him, "Reporter," premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and will be shown on HBO.

Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn are also the authors of "China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power" and "Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising Asia."