March 31, 2005

Meet Afschineh Latifi the author of "Even After All This Time: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Leaving Iran"
Tuesday, April 19, Northwestern University, Chicago

Growing up in Tehran in the 1970s, Afschineh Latifi and her sister and two brothers enjoyed a life of luxury and privilege. Their father, a self-made man, had worked his way up from nothing to become a colonel in the Shah’s army, and their mother, a woman of equally modest roots, had made a career for herself as a respected schoolteacher. But in February, 1979, Colonel Latifi was arrested by members of the newly installed Khomeini regime, and publicly pilloried as an “Enemy of God.” Some months later, after having been shunted from one prison cell to another, and without benefit of a legitimate trial, Colonel Latifi was summarily executed.

Fearing for the safety of her children, Mrs. Latifi made a wrenching decision: to send her daughters, ages ten and eleven, to the west, splitting up the family until they could safely reunite. Out on their own, Afschineh and her sister, Afsaneh, were forced to become strong young women before they’d even had a childhood.

Even After All This Time is a story of hope and heartache [book excerpt], a story of a family torn apart for six harrowing years, and finally coming together to rebuild in America. In the richly evocative tradition of the bestselling Reading Lolita in Tehran, this is a story of a family that had the courage to dream impossible dreams and to make them come true against impossible odds.
Afschineh will talk about her experience and read short sections  of her book. There will be time for Q/A and a reception  in her honor afterwards.

This program is brought to you by Northwestern Student Organization (PARS) and Iran House of Greater Chicago. Books will be available for purchase and signing by the author.

Date/time: Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Place: 2020 Sheridan Road at Northwestern University Swift Hall, Room 107 6:30-8:30
Directions/Parking: North on Lake Shore Drive. Continue North on Sheridan until you reach NU campus. Pass "Foster and "Library" Streets. A few feet after Library, there is a LARGE parking lot on your Right hand side. This is where everyone should park for the event. (The location of this parking lot is next to that Tech Building. If you pass Tech Building, you have gone too far.) Swift Hall is located at the back end of this parking lot. It is the huge white building to the RIGHT. There will be a few poster signs to guide people!

Sent by Simin Hemmati-Rasmussen

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