SFU Library Dean's Lecture on Information + Society: Omar El Akkad

Join us for a lively evening celebrating award-winning author Omar El Akkad, in conversation with moderator Kamal Al-Solaylee. In an open and wide-ranging discussion, these two authors and former journalists will explore both fiction and non-fiction writing, creativity and the writing life, the experience of writing about horrific and traumatic world events, and finding sources of celebration, inspiration, and joy.

The event will be followed by a reception with light refreshments. Everyone is welcome.

Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist. He was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada as a teenager and now lives in the United States. The start of his journalism career coincided with the start of the war on terror, and over the following decade he reported from Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and many other locations around the world. His work earned a National Newspaper Award for Investigative Journalism and the Goff Penny Award for young journalists. His fiction and non-fiction writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Guernica, GQ and many other newspapers and magazines. His debut novel, American War, is an international bestseller and has been translated into thirteen languages. It won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award, the Oregon Book Award for fiction, the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and has been nominated for more than ten other awards. It was listed as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, Washington Post, GQ, NPR, Esquire and was selected by the BBC as one of 100 novels that changed our world. His second novel, What Strange Paradise, won the Giller Prize, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award, the Oregon Book Award for fiction, and was shortlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize. It was also named a best book of the year by the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR and several other publications. His first book of nonfiction, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, will be published on February 25, 2025. Omar lives near Portland, Oregon, where is on the faculty of the Pacific University MFA in Writing program.

Kamal Al-Solaylee is the author of the bestseller Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes, winner of the 2013 Toronto Book Award and a finalist for the CBC’s Canada Reads and the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. His second book, Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (to Everyone) won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and was finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards for Nonfiction. His third book of nonfiction, Return: Why We go Back to Where We Come From, was published in 2021 and was named Book of the Year by the Globe and Mail and CBC Books. More recently, he wrote and produced two documentaries for CBC’s IDEAS on subjects as diverse as the Queen of Sheba and nineteenth-century English writer Wilkie Collins. He holds a PhD in English and is the director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Launched in 2018 and generously funded by the Thakore Learning and Events Endowment, SFU Library's Dean’s Lecture on Information + Society brings leading speakers to the community for a free, public event hosted by SFU's Dean of Libraries.

The lecture focuses on fostering conversation about the role of information in contemporary society and on building a more just and equitable world.

Join us at the in-person event or with the livestream. Please note that this event will be livestreamed, but it will not be recorded.

Ticket Holders: Doors open at 6:00pm PT. As this event is free, it is our policy to overbook. In case of a full program, your ticket reservation may not guarantee admission. We recommend you arrive early.

Registration options

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• If you prefer not to use Eventbrite to register for this event for privacy reasons, please email Chloe Riley at [email protected].

COVID-19 Safety protocols: Masks are recommended

• All in-person attendees are strongly encouraged to wear masks at this event. Please stay home if you are feeling sick and join our livestream instead!
• We ask that you please be respectful and patient with staff, volunteers and fellow attendees and be mindful of others’ comfort levels.

In-person accessibility

• SFU Harbour Centre is located at 515 W. Hastings St and is located a brief walk from Waterfront station and numerous bus stops. Plan your trip with TransLink’s Trip Planner.
• Bike stalls are available outside the main entrance. Nearby parking is available at 500 & 400 W. Cordova St.
• There are washrooms located on all floors of the building. Accessible, private bathrooms and gender-neutral washroom stalls are available on the first floor in the east corridor. All floors within the building are serviced by elevators.
• If you have any requests, concerns, or questions concerning accessibility at this event, please contact Chloe Riley at [email protected]

Thank you to our event partners, SFU Public Square.

This event is generously funded by the Thakore Learning and Events Endowment.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Room 1400, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W Hastings Street, Vancouver, Canada