OSWEGO, NY – Best-selling author Greg Mortenson will speak at the Campus Center Arena at SUNY Oswego Oct. 28 and tickets to the much-anticipated event are available online only by going to the link on the Oswego Reads website at www.oswegoreads.com.
Mortenson will be making a special appearance to a few schools during the day before making a presentation in the evening at SUNY Oswego. His first book, “Three Cups of Tea,†is the selected book for Oswego’s first community-wide read initiated by Oswego Reads. Tickets are $20.
The community-wide event is sponsored by Pathfinder Bank.
“We’re very excited to welcome Greg Mortenson to Oswego,†said Bill Reilly, owner of the river’s end bookstore and committee member of Oswego Reads, the group spearheading the community read. “The community and school district are extremely enthusiastic about the Oswego Reads program, and to have Greg visit here in October to talk about Three Cups of Tea and his amazing personal story, will be incredible.â€
Numerous events are planned or have taken place leading up to the October 28th visit by Mortenson, and a kick-off for Oswego Reads took place recently in the Community Room at the Oswego Public Library.
In addition, a Pennies for Peace fundraising campaign is also underway throughout the community. Donation jugs have been placed at local business locations to raise money for the Pennies for Peace program. The program, which was founded by Mortenson in 1994, through his non-profit organization, Central Asia Institute, helps raise donations to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Oswego City School District has also started the new school year by introducing “Three Cups of Tea†to its reading curriculum. 500 free student tickets are now available for students residing in or attending the Oswego City School District when an adult ticket is purchased. This offer is not available online.
To receive this offer, it is necessary to contact the Oswego City School District Superintendent’s office between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. at 341-2001 to acquire student tickets. There is a limit of two free tickets and proof of residency is required.
About the book
Three Cups of Tea has sold 3.6 million copies, been published in 41 countries and has been a New York Times bestseller for more than three years since its release. The book was named Time Magazine Asia Book of the Year and Mortenson’s newest book, “Stones into Schools,†released in December of 2009, debuted as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list.
Three Cups of Tea is available for three age levels – adult, young adult and children. Locally, it is available at the river’s end bookstore in Oswego.
To learn more, go to www.threecupsoftea.com.
About Mortenson
Mortenson, a nurse and mountain climber turned advocate for peace and education, has established more than 131 schools in rural and often volatile and dangerous regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. These schools provide education to more than 58,000 children, including 48,000 girls where few education opportunities existed before.
Mortenson believes that global education is the key to global peace, and he has been working on that concept for nearly two decades, one school at a time. In 1996, he co-founded the Central Asia Institute and serves as executive director. According to Mortenson, he has made 38 trips to oversee the building of schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, totaling 76 months over the last 17 years.
His work has not been without difficulty. In 1996, he survived an eight-day armed kidnapping by the Taliban in Pakistan and escaped a 2003 firefight with feuding Afghan warlords by hiding for eight hours under putrid animal hides in a truck going to a leather-tanning factory.
In 2009, Mortenson received Pakistan’s highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (“Star of Pakistanâ€) for his humanitarian effort to promote girls education in rural areas for 15 years.
