Author Sonia Shah in conversation with Nassim Assefi--The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move

Join the Boston Public Library for an online talk by Sonia Shah, author of The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move, who puts forth the argument that migration isn’t a crisis, but a lifesaving response to environmental change. Shah will be in conversation with Nassim Assefi. This program was originally scheduled to take place at the Central Library but will now be happening online. Please register with a valid email address so that we may send you the virtual meeting details by visting https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/5e6134520492fc2f009e6f91.

The idea that certain peoples and species belong in certain places has a long history in Western culture. Shah traces this thread from the 18th century studies of Carl Linnaeus (the “father of modern taxonomy”), to the eugenics movement of the 20th century, through the anti-immigration policies we know today. Our ideas about “sedentariness” extend to plants and animals, too—indeed, experts have historically considered any type of migration as necessarily calamitous, because migrants upset the “natural order.” But findings in recent years have upended this thinking: far from being a disruptive behavior to be quelled at any cost, migration is a biological imperative as necessary as breathing. Combining history, policy, and environmental science, The Next Great Migration is a compelling and approachable argument about the future of life on earth.
To purchase a copy of these authors' books, as well as books from other presenters, please visit one of our program partners, Trident Booksellers & Cafe: https://bookshop.org/lists/boston-public-library-events.

Sonia Shah is a science journalist and the prize-winning author of Pandemic: Tracking Contagions from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the New York Public Library Award for Excellence in Journalism. She has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many others. Her TED talk, “Three Reasons We Still Haven’t Gotten Rid of Malaria,” has been viewed by more than one million people around the world. She lives in Baltimore. Learn more about Shah at http://soniashah.com/.

Nassim Assefi is a physician, teacher, novelist, content curator, health tech consultant, and civic innovator who enjoys living at the intersection of many worlds. Her doctoring is a blend of internal medicine, gynecology, psychiatry, human rights, and public health. Her consulting work ranges from primary care health strategies for the low income world to health tech start-ups and human rights medicine. Her novels (Aria, published by Harcourt and translated into 5 other languages, and forthcoming We Belong To Each Other) explore complex issues like grief and humanitarianism. Her awards include a TED Global Fellowship, Hedgebrook Writing Residency, University of Washington's Woman of Courage, Jack Straw Fellowship, and Seattle Metropolitan's Top Doctor. Learn more about Assefi at https://www.nassimassefi.com/about.

Author photo is by Glenford Nuñez.

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