Gabriel Meyer in Conversation with Rabbi Lee Bycel



ALOUD at Central Library presents a discussion about Sudan, genocide, and hope in the face of violence.


Thursday, November 9, 2006
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Central Library - Taper Auditorium
Fifth and Flower Streets
630 W. 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071

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The LIBRARY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES In association with the LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY present

ALOUD at Central Library   --  Lectures, Readings, Performances & Discussions

Gabriel Meyer, War and Faith in Sudan, in conversation with Rabbi Lee Bycel, Special Advisor to International Medical Corps

Meyer's stirring essays on the tragic civil war in Sudan draw attention not only to ethnic and religious strife in Africa, but also to the nature of genocide, the sources of hope in the midst of violence, and the role of spirituality in conflict resolution.

Reservations:

All ALOUD at Central Library programs are general admission. We advise that patrons arrive by 6:45 PM for 7 PM programs.  We reserve the right to refuse admission to latecomers. For programs that are full, standby only: Standby tickets will be available at the door, in person only, beginning one hour prior to the program. Unclaimed reservations will be released to stand-by patrons just before the program begins.

All programs are subject to change without advance notice.
 
A book signing follows most author programs. Books are available for purchase on-site at the program, courtesy of the Library Store.
 
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Hours:
Mon. Thurs. 10 a.m. 8 p.m.
Fri. & Sat. 10 a.m. 6 p.m.
Sun. 1 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
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Gabriel Meyer is an award-winning novelist, poet and journalist. A resident of Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter in the 1980s, he won Catholic Press Association (CPA) awards for his coverage of the first Palestinian intifada in 1989. He also traveled widely in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt and Turkey, covering the plight of the region's ethnic and religious minorities.

Assigned to write on Yugoslavia for the National Catholic Register in 1990, he lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina and chronicled the region's descent into civil war. Meyer returned frequently to the Balkans during the Bosnian war. His dispatches from Sarajevo on the last day of the war (October 1995) were nominated for several journalism awards.

Meyer published two novels in 1994, both with Middle Eastern settings: In the Shade of the Terebinth (Ave Maria Press) and The Gospel of Joseph (Crossroad). In 1997, Meyer interviewed legendary human rights champion Bishop Macram Max Gassis of Sudan for the National Catholic Register, and traveled with him to the war-torn Nuba Mountains in central Sudan the following year. Subsequent trips to Sudan in 1999, 2000 and 2001 provided the basis for a feature-length documentary, The Hidden Gift: War & Faith in Sudan on Bishop Gassis's work among the Nuba and other "forgotten" peoples of Sudan's civil war, which Meyer wrote and narrated. 

His book of essays, War & Faith in Sudan (Wm. B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI), was released in fall 2005. Mr. Meyer lives in Los Angeles where, in addition to free-lance writing, he serves as president of the historic Ruskin Art Club, the Southland's oldest arts association.

www.warandfaithinsudan.com

Lee T. Bycel is Senior Advisor to Global Strategy of International Medical Corps.  He also moderates senior leadership seminars for the Aspen Institute and the Federal Executive Institute, and offers seminars on ethics, leadership issues and strategy for a variety of corporate and non-profit organizations.  During the past year and a half he has made three humanitarian trips to Darfur and Chad where he visited several refugee camps and has raised over a million and a half dollars for medical supplies, food and basic services for refugees.   In April he was in Rwanda for the twelfth commemoration of their genocide and also visited IMC projects in the slums of Nairobi. 

For several years he served as president of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, a national conference and retreat center located in Southern California.  For fifteen years he was dean of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles where he was the senior academic and administrative officer of the campus. 

Lee is an active member of the Los Angeles community where he is involved in a variety of interfaith, social justice and educational organizations and activities.  He served as president of the County of Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations.  He is a member of the California Taskforce on Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights and Tolerance Education as well as a Board member of MAZON: A Jewish response to Hunger.  He has a number of publications to his credit and has been the recipient of many awards including the National Conference of Community and Justice (NCCJ) Humanitarian Award.  

www.imcworldwide.org

RSVP required.


Cost : Free and open to the public; RSVP to 213-228-7025 or www.lfla.org/aloud/registration

Regina Mangum213-228-7268
aloudoutreach@earthlink.net

www.lfla.org


Sponsor(s): The Library Foundation of Los Angeles in association with the Los Angeles Public Library. Information about non-JSCASC events is posted for informational purposes and does not reflect opinions of or endorsements by African Studies personnel.