First Universalist churches to hear from Muslim activist Reza Jalali

Muslim writer, activist and honors professor Reza Jalali will lead Sunday services on April 8 at the First Universalist Church of West Paris and at the First Universalist Church of Norway.

The First Universalist Church of West Paris is at 208 Main St. in West Paris. Sunday worship services are at 9 a.m., followed with refreshments.

The First Universalist Church of Norway is located at 479 Main St. Sunday services are held at 11 a.m. with a social hour following. Childcare is available.

Reza Jalali, recognized as one of the eminent ethnic Americans in “Making it in America,” a sourcebook on eminent ethnic Americans, and named as one of Maine’s 50 leaders by “Maine Magazine” in 2016, is a writer, educator and refugee activist.

As a board director of Amnesty International, Jalali has led delegations to refugee camps in Turkey and Bosnia and the United Nations conferences. In 1992, he visited the White House as part of a national delegation to discuss the plight of Kurdish refugees fleeing Iraq.

Jalali wrote the “Foreword to New Mainers,” a book on immigrants’ experiences in Maine. His children’s book, “Moon Watchers,” has received a Skipping Stones Honor Award for Multicultural Book. His books include “Homesick Mosque and Other Stories” and “The Poets and the Assassin.” 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.”

Jalali has taught at the Bangor Theological Seminary and the University of Southern Maine. He has been featured in the National Public Radio’s nationally-acclaimed The Moth Radio Hour. He is the co-curator of the Maine Historical Society’s 400 Years of New Mainers exhibition. Jalali is a faculty member of the USM Honors Program and advises Muslim students at Bowdoin College.