Reza Aslan

Dr. Reza Aslan, internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religion, holds degrees in Religion from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of directors for the Ploughshares Fund, Abraham's Vision (an interfaith peace organization), and PEN USA. He is cofounder and Chief Creative Officer of BoomGen Studios, a hub for creative content from and about the Middle East, as well as Editorial Executive of Mecca.com. Born in Iran, he now lives in Los Angeles where he is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.

Aslan's first book was the New York Times Bestseller, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, which has been translated into thirteen languages. His edited anthology, Words Without Borders: Writings from the Middle East, will be published 2010.