Award-winning author and under-secretary-general of the United Nations, Shashi Tharoor will speak at York University during worldwide celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of diplomat and Nobel laureate, Ralph Bunche, who received an honorary degree from York University in 1970. Tharoor will deliver his lecture today at 11am in the Senate Chamber, N940 Ross Bldg.
Left: Shashi Tharoor
Tharoor, who heads the Department of Communications and Public Information, has worked at the United Nations since 1978 and was named a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 1998. In addition to serving with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Tharoor has been director of Communications and Special Projects in the Office of the Secretary-General and special assistant to the under-secretary-general for Peacekeeping Operations.
From 1991 to 1996, Tharoor led the team responsible for United Nations peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia. He is also a celebrated author who has written six critically-acclaimed books and numerous articles and reviews for publications around the world. His most recent work Nehru: The Invention of India is a scholarly reappraisal of the life of India's first prime minister released in November 2003. His 1992 novel Show Business was made into the motion picture Bollywood.
A national of India, Tharoor has won numerous journalism and literary awards including a Commonwealth Writer's Prize.