Imran Ahmad, London-based author of the newly released book in the U.S. entitled “Unimagined: A Muslim boy meets the West,” has embarked on a 40-city speaking tour of the United States and arrives in Santa Barbara in mid-April.

His topic: How Muslims and people of other faiths can live respectfully in the same world. On April 21, Ahmad will lead a dialogue at the Unitarian/Universalist Society of Santa Barbara by telling his frequently amusing, often frustrating, story of a Muslim boy growing up in the West enduring racism but also finding love and compassion.

His tour is a response to President Obama’s call for a new era of respect and dialogue between the Muslim and Western worlds. There will be a book signing after presentation and dialogue with the audience.

Ahmad’s first book has been highly acclaimed in the United Kingdom and selected by newspapers there as one of the 10 best books of the year.  Newly released in the U.S., “Unimagined” is being described as “wonderfully funny, heartwarming, perceptive, enlightening and ironic” autobiography and is appreciatively heralded as a “memoir that isn’t miserable.”

Those who have heard Ahmad’s presentation both on his autobiography and on his travels have marveled at the good humor he brings to a serious and important topic. He will also bring his audience up-to-date on the adventures of a devout Muslim traveling over this past month from Chicago to California.
 
The evening with author Imran Ahmad is free, and open to the public at the Unitarian/Universalist Society headquarters, 1535 Santa Barbara St., at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 21. For more information, call 805.682.0226