2016 Inspiring Leadership Forum features world-renowned journalists

News Release Release Date: March 9, 2016 8:00 a.m.

The University of Regina today hosts the seventh annual Inspiring Leadership Forum at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina. The Forum, Compelling Voices, features keynote speakers Naomi Klein, Mellissa Fung and Mona Eltahawy, who will share their personal stories with more than 500 conference participants at this year’s sold-out Forum.

“Our presenters have enjoyed tremendous success as journalists, authors and activists,” said Dr. Vianne Timmons, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Regina. “Together, these remarkable women form a powerful and modern voice on global issues such as war, corporate capitalism, climate change and the environment, and Middle Eastern affairs. I’m excited that people in our community will have the opportunity to engage with – and learn from – such distinguished keynote speakers.”

The event also features a Saskatchewan Leaders Panel, moderated by Global Regina’s evening news anchor, Whitney Stinson. Panelists include former Saskatchewanderer, Ashlyn George; science writer, environmental and Indigenous health specialist, Diane Adams; and Stefani Langenegger, CBC Saskatchewan’s political journalist.

BACKGROUND

Naomi Klein
An award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, and author of the New York Times and #1 international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Klein’s critically acclaimed new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, is the 2014 winner of the prestigious Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

Klein is a contributing editor for Harper’s and reporter for Rolling Stone, and writes a regular column for The Nation and The Guardian that is syndicated internationally by The New York Times Syndicate. Additionally, her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Globe and Mail, El Pais, L’Espresso and The New Statesman, among many other publications.

Mellissa Fung
A veteran correspondent and bestselling author, Fung covered the war in Afghanistan for the CBC and produced the award-winning documentaries Canada’s Ugly Secret and No Country for Horses.

Her bestselling book, Under an Afghan Sky, chronicles her experience as a hostage after she was kidnapped while on assignment in Afghanistan in 2008. She speaks with passion on human rights (with particular attention paid to women and children), development issues, current events, and her personal experiences as a journalist.

In addition to the CBC, her work has appeared in The Walrus, The Toronto Star, GlobalPost, and PBS among other publications. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Gracie award, the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association award for documentary, and several Radio and Television News Directors awards.

Mona Eltahawy
Eltahawy is an award-winning columnist and international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues and global feminism. The author of Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution, released April 2015, Eltahawy is based in Cairo and New York City.

A contributor to the New York Times opinion pages, her commentaries have appeared in several other publications and she is a regular guest analyst on various television and radio shows. During the 18-day revolution that toppled Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, she appeared on most major media outlets, leading the feminist website Jezebel to describe her as "The Woman Explaining Egypt to the West".

For more information on the University of Regina’s Inspiring Leadership Forum, visit: http://www.uregina.ca/external/inspiringleadership/index.html.