The late journalist Jamal Khashoggi is the 2019 Harriet Beecher Stowe Freedom Writer Award Recipient. Karen Attiah, Global Opinions editor at The Washington Post, will accept the award on Khashoggi’s behalf. Attiah will also deliver the Freedom Writer lecture.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Freedom Writer Award is given to writers whose work best exemplifies “writing to change the world.” The award and lecture are named for Stowe, whose book Uncle Tom’s Cabin was based in part on her experiences in Cincinnati, and who spoke at the Mercantile Library in 1873.

Jamal Khashoggi was a Global Opinions contributing columnist for The Washington Post. Much of his writing was critical of the Saudi government, in October 2018, he was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey by Saudi agents.

Karen Attiah is the Global Opinions editor at The Washington Post, where she commissions and edits commentary on global issues from a variety of international writers. She joined The Post in 2014 as a digital producer in the Opinions section. Attiah often writes on issues relating to race, gender and international politics, with a special interest in Africa. Attiah was a Fulbright scholar to Ghana and holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. She received her bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Northwestern University.

6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free* to members/$20 nonmembers. Registration required.

Sponsors: Karen Smith & Paul De Marco

FREEDOM WRITER AWARD STEERING COMMITTEE: Laura Brunner, Paul De Marco, The Very Rev. Gail E. Greenwell, Paul Heldman, Richard L. Moore, Furaha Norton, Bertie Ray III, Verna Williams

*Free admission for Mercantile members is made possible by The George and Margaret McLane Foundation.