AUGUSTA — Join the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine at 12 p.m. Friday, March 4, at the Michael Klahr Center for a Lunch and Learn featuring author Reza Jalali, coordinator of Multicultural Student Affairs at USM. The Center is located on the campus of the University of Maine at Augusta.

Jalali, author of “New Mainers: Portraits of Our Immigrant Neighbors” will discuss his book and the need to tell the stories of today’s immigrants. New Mainers tells the unique stories of 29 immigrants and refugees, unfamiliar to the state of Maine.

Maine’s recent immigrants, most of them refugees fleeing wars or religious and political persecution, arrive from war-torn countries such as Somalia, Sudan, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Rwanda, to name a few.

This program is presented by the HHRC in conjunction with its current exhibit “Yearning to Breathe Free: The Immigrant Experience in Maine,” in partnership with the Mid-Maine Global Forum.

Lunch will be a sandwich and salad buffet priced at $10 per person. Seating is limited. Those interested in attending should respond to HHRC office administrator Jordan Bannister via email at: [email protected] or by calling 207-621-3530 by Tuesday, March 1. Payment can be made the day of the event by check, credit card or cash at the door.