Global Reads – The Finest Hotel in Kabul

Join Aga Khan Foundation Canada and the Global Centre for Pluralism in-person for a special edition of Global Reads featuring acclaimed journalist and author Lyse Doucet, in conversation about her new book, The Finest Hotel in Kabul.

Drawing on four decades as one of the BBC’s most trusted voices from conflict zones, Lyse Doucet offers a deeply human portrait of Afghanistan’s complex history, told through the lens of a once-grand hotel and the people whose lives intersect within it.

In this session, Lyse will be joined by Meredith Preston McGhie, Secretary General of the Global Centre for Pluralism, for a conversation on the power of literature to build understanding and empathy across divides. Together, they will reflect on storytelling as a means of connecting across cultures, histories, and identities — and what it reveals about our shared humanity.

If you are passionate about global affairs, storytelling, and the role of empathy in a divided world, this event is for you.

Copies of The Finest Hotel in Kabul will be available for purchase.

This event is in-person only, and will take place at the Global Centre for Pluralism.

Please note that this event will be offered in English.

Questions? [email protected]

Register Today!

Speakers

Lyse Doucet

Canadian journalist, British Broadcasting Corporation

Lyse Doucet is a Canadian journalist and the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent. In the course of a career spanning four decades, she has reported from countries around the world and was based as a correspondent in Jerusalem, Amman, Islamabad, Kabul, and Abidjan.

She has led the BBC’s coverage of major events including the recent Iran-Israel war, the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, and the Syrian Civil War. She received an OBE in the Queen’s Honours list in 2014, and was admitted to the Order of Canada in 2019. Her latest awards in the U.S. include the 2024 Zenger Award for Press Freedom from the University of Arizona, and the 2018 Trailblazer Award from Georgetown University. She was a recipient of the Columbia School of Journalism Award in 2016, an Emmy in 2014 for her team’s reporting from Syria, and Peabody Awards for her work from Syria and Afghanistan. In 2021, she was nominated for a Peabody for her work as a writer and reporter on the BBC podcast Afghanistan: Documenting A Crucial Year.

Doucet has twenty honorary doctorates from leading British and Canadian Universities. She has a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto, and a BA Hons. from Queen’s University in Kingston. She is also a senior fellow of Massey College of the University of Toronto. Doucet has been reporting on Afghanistan since 1988. She visits the Inter-Continental whenever she is in Kabul

Meredith Preston McGhie

Secretary General, Global Centre for Pluralism

In her role as Secretary General for the Global Centre for Pluralism, Meredith Preston McGhie provides strategic leadership for the Centre and represents the Centre as an ambassador of pluralism to develop strong relationships with community leaders, governments, civil society and other institutions.

Prior to joining the Centre in October 2019, Meredith devoted more than 20 years to addressing conflict and instability in Africa and Asia. From working with the Naga in Northeast India and indigenous communities on the Thai-Myanmar border, to supporting UN efforts in Kosovo, Northern Iraq and several African countries, her work has straddled frontline negotiation, policy and diplomacy. As Africa Regional Director with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Meredith oversaw the HD Centre’s complex mediation and dialogue efforts in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sudan, Somalia and South Sudan, among other places. In the Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation Process in 2007-08, she advised the Panel of Eminent African Personalities led by the late Kofi Annan, former Director of the Board of the Global Centre for Pluralism.

She has held positions with the United Nations in Sudan and South Sudan, and worked across the region on conflict resolution and humanitarian response efforts. Meredith began her career supporting conflict resolution efforts of leaders in the Naga community of North East India and among Indigenous minorities in Myanmar with the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact. She continuously contributes to policy discussions on peacemaking globally, including teaching peace process design and speaking on pluralism and the power of peacemaking, as highlighted in her recent TEDx talk.