Willimantic, Conn. – On Wednesday, September 17, author Krista Bremer will visit Eastern Connecticut State University to speak about her renowned memoir, “My Accidental Jihad: A Love Affair.” The event is part of Eastern’s University Hour Series, and will take place from 3–4 p.m. in Room 104 of the Science Building.
“My Accidental Jihad” tells the true story of Bremer’s bicultural marriage with an older Muslim man from an impoverished village in Libya, and the social struggles that followed them, living in the American South and raising a family. At her talk, Bremer will discuss the difficulties she faced in writing her memoir and what she discovered along the way about culture, identity and love.
“Krista’s works have gotten national attention,” said English Professor Lisa Taylor. “This memoir is an amazing story.” Taylor met Bremer at a writing residency two years ago in Vermont, and again last year at a conference in Seattle. “Krista is an award-winning writer and a phenomenal presenter. I’m happy that she agreed to come to Eastern.”
Regarding her love life and motivation for writing this memoir, Bremer wrote: “My love life looks absolutely nothing like the romantic images I’ve been fed for as long as I can remember. In my younger years, this caused me way too much grief, disappointment and self-doubt. I wrote this book in part to claim my relationship as a love story—not an airbrushed one with a happily-ever-after ending, but one that is messy and mysterious and real, with equal parts struggle and transcendence,” she concluded.
Bremer is also the associate publisher of The Sun magazine and a regular contributor to NPR as well as such notable magazines as O (The Oprah magazine), Salon, Marie Claire and Utne Reader.