AUGUSTA – Author and human rights activist Reza Jalali will speak on the topic of Muslims in Maine at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, at the Holocaust and Human Rights Center at the University of Maine at Augusta. The event is free and open to the public.

The talk is being held in conjunction with A Capital Read 2013, Lithgow Public Library’s annual community-wide reading project. This year’s selection is “The Submission,” written by first-time novelist Amy Waldman, which explores the controversy and complex emotions surrounding a memorial for the victims of 9/11.

Jalali is a human rights activist and Muslim scholar from Iran who has lived in Maine since 1985. His essays, short stories and commentaries have appeared in both local and international newspapers. He is a contributing writer to “Child Labor: A Global View,” the multimedia production Middle East Suitcase Project and “The World of Child Labor: An Historical and Regional Survey.” His first children’s book, “Moon Watchers,” has received a Skipping Stones Honor Award for Multicultural Books. Jalali’s forthcoming book, “God Speaks in Many Accents,” is about the religions that Maine’s immigrants have brought with them to their new country.

His play, “The Poets and the Assassin,” about women in Iran, has been staged at several colleges in Maine.

As a member of Amnesty International’s board of directors, Jalali has led delegations to refugee camps in Turkey and Bosnia, and has visited the White House as part of a national delegation to discuss the plight of Kurdish refugees fleeing Iraq. He teaches at Bangor Theological Seminary and at the University of Southern Maine. He is the Muslim chaplain at Bates College and coordinates the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at USM.

Waldman’s appearance at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, at the University of Maine at Augusta will be the highlight of A Capital Read 2013. Other programs during the month of April include a dramatic reading from “The Submission,” a community art exhibit, an evening of poetry and music and book discussions.

For more information contact Lithgow Library at 626-2415 or visit www.lithgow.lib.me.us.