Author and Daily Beast columnist Reza Aslan

As protests against the Iranian election results continue to captivate us, who better than Dr. Reza Aslan to deliver the closing night address at SAJA’s 15 Anniversary Convention Gala Scholarship and Awards Dinner?

The author of How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror and a frequent guest on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Aslan is a columnist at the Daily Beast.

In relation to his work as an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. His first book, the New York Times bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam has been translated into thirteen languages.

Born in Iran, Aslan now lives in Los Angeles where he is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. He is a co-founder 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.