Thursday, April 15, 2010
8 pm
Marin Veterans' Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael

The hero of Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace...One School At A Time, will share his inspiring message of hope and our individual and collective responsibilities as global citizens. The book details Mortenson’s journey after a failed 1993 climb on Pakistan’s K2 and his dedication to promote community- based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The book’s title comes from a Balti proverb: "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time, you are an honored guest. The third time, you become family."

Since the 2006 publication of Three Cups of Tea, which now has sold over 3 million copies and been published in 34 countries, Greg Mortenson, together with the Central Asia Institute, has continued to work to promote peace through education. Since CAI was founded 16 years ago, he has established more than 130 schools, most of them for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mortenson picks up the story of his work and adventures where Three Cups of Tea left off. In 1999, Kirghiz horsemen from Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor rode into Pakistan and secured a promise from Mortenson to construct a school in an isolated picket of the Pamir Mountains known as Bozai Gumbad. Mortenson could not build that school before constructing many others, and that is the story he tells in this dramatic new book. Stones into Schools brings to life both the heroic efforts of CAI’s fixers on the ground—renegade men of unrecognized and untapped talent who became galvanized by the importance of girls’ education—and the triumphs of the young women who are now graduating from the schools. Their stories are ones you will not soon forget.

More information:
http://www.stonesintoschools.com .

$45 / $35 / $25
$125 - Includes private pre-talk reception with Greg Mortenson to benefit Marin County Library Foundation.

Tickets to this event can be purchased through the Box Office and ticketmaster.