TURNER — The First Universalist Church in Turner Center will host a guest speaker on Sunday, Aug. 18. Reza Jalali, writer, educator and a community activist, will address the congregation at 10 a.m.

Writer, educator and community activit Reza Jalali will address the First Universalist Church in North Turner.

Jalali has taught at the Bangor Seminary and the University of Southern Maine. Jalali, a former refugee from Iran, was recognized as one of the eminent ethnic Americans in Making it in America, a source book on eminent ethnic Americans, and named as one of Maine’s 50 leaders by Maine Magazine in 2016.

As a member of Amnesty International USA Board of Directors, Jalali has led delegations to refugee camps in Turkey and Bosnia. He has participated in numerous United Nations-sponsored international conferences. In 1992, he visited the White House as part of a national delegation to discuss the plight of Kurdish refugees fleeing Iraq.

Jalali is one of the contributing writers to Child Labor: A Global View, and The World of Child Labor: An Historical and Regional Survey. Jalali has written the Foreword to “New Mainers” (2009, Tilbury House Publishers) a book on Maine’s immigrants. His children’s book, “Moon Watchers,” has received a Skipping Stones Honor Award for Multicultural Book. Jalali’s short story collection, “Homesick Mosque and Other Stories.” was published in 2013. His play, “The Poets and the Assassin,” which is about women in Iran and Islam, has been staged numerous times.

He has been a storyteller in the National Public Radio’s nationally-acclaimed The Moth Radio Hour. Jalali has been included in 50 In 52 Journey, a national project to name “Americans who are problem-solvers, idea-generators in their communities, in their cities and in their states and are moving America forward.” He directed the USM Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at USM and advised Muslim students at Bates and Bowdoin colleges, before teaching at USM’s Honors Program, as an adjunct faculty.

For more information, contact V. Catlett at 207-524-7741.