The Eliot House at Harvard College will be hosting a discussion with Rory Stewart, former Provisional Governor of Maysan Province in Iraq and author of the bestselling book about walking across Afghanistan, "The
Places in Between". The event is open to all.

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A Discussion with RORY STEWART, O.B.E.

Rory is the author of "The Places in Between" (NYT's Best 10 Books of 2006) and
"The Prince of the Marshes and Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq"

Wednesday, April 11th @ 2:30pm, Eliot House Library (C-Entry)

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In early 2002, Rory Stewart, an Oxford-educated 28 year-old Scotsman with a hitherto promising career in the British Foreign Office, decided to walk across Afghanistan. In the middle of a war. In the middle of winter. He was told by local officials he would die. He didn‚t, just, surviving by his wits, the kindness of various strangers and the companionship of a giant mastiff named Babur. His account of the trek was lauded by The New York Times as a "striding, glorious book . . . a flat-out masterpiece."

Then, in mid-2003, Stewart took a taxi to Baghdad to look for work and found himself appointed governor of the southern Iraqi province of Maysan. His recounting of the absurd and astounding challenges the job presented, to be found in "The Prince of the Marshes and Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq", prompted The New York Times to remark that he "seems to be living one of the most extraordinary lives on record." A reviewer from Slate noted that of all the books "about the tragedy in Iraq, . . . Stewart‚s is the most likely to last".

Rory is currently based in Kabul, where he heads the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, a non-governmental agency dedicated to preserving the cultural and artistic heritage of Afghanistan. In January, Rory did an interview with BBC World's "Hardtalk" about coalition strategy in Iraq, which can be viewed here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6248027.stm