Wordfest Presents Denise Chong & Rumana Monzur

Wordfest Presents Denise Chong & Rumana Monzur

Acclaimed writer Denise Chong returns to Calgary with her new book, Out of Darkness, a stirring account of the journey of domestic assault victim Rumana Monzur. Wordfest is honoured to have Monzur joining Chong for this in-depth conversation about the Bangladeshi professor's ultimate triumph over the attack. The event, hosted by journalist Christina Frangou, starts at 7PM MT and includes an audience Q & A and book signing. Shelf Life Books will be on site with copies of Out of Darkness, as well as Chong's fantastic backlist. Ticket holders can also pre-order copies here for pick-up at the event.

We are grateful to Penguin Random House Canada for making it possible to connect you with these phenomenal women.

About Out of Darkness

From the bestselling author of The Concubine’s Children and The Girl in the Picture, a gripping story of a domestic assault that shocked the world, of the exercise of power and political influence, and of the Bangladeshi woman whose irrepressible spirit found light in sudden darkness.

From the outside, Rumana Monzur seemed an unlikely victim of domestic abuse: married to a man of her own choosing and progressing in her career as a professor of international relations at Dhaka University. But in 2011, on return from graduate studies at the University of British Columbia, her husband attacked and blinded her in front of their young daughter. As Monzur's horrifying story garnered international headlines and connections brought her to Vancouver in an attempt — ultimately futile — to restore her sight, her plight underscored the fact that there are no typical victims of intimate-partner violence.

Denise Chong goes behind the headlines to reveal the devolution of a love story into a tale of tyranny behind closed doors, and the pursuit of justice that proved all the more elusive during the rise of social media. Out of Darkness tells a globe-spanning narrative of loyalty, perseverance and a woman’s determination to face the future and rebuild a life with meaning.

About Denise Chong

Denise Chong is an award-winning author whose work portrays the lives of ordinary people caught in the eye of history. Chong is best known for her family memoir, The Concubine’s Children; The Girl in the Picture about the napalm girl of the Vietnam War; and Egg on Mao, a story of love and defiance in China of 1989. She lives in Ottawa.

About Rumana Monzur

Rumana Monzur was an assistant professor at Dhaka University and a Fulbright scholar. In 2011, she was brutally attacked and blinded by her then-husband during a visit to Bangladesh. Her case caught widespread media attention around the world due to ongoing domestic violence against women in her home country. (Her ex-husband died in prison in December 2011.) Monzur continued her studies and, in 2017, received a degree in law from the University of British Columbia. She is currently a counsel at the Department of Justice Canada in Vancouver.

About Host Christina Frangou

Christina Frangou is a Calgary journalist who writes about health and social issues. Her stories have appeared in The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Maclean's and The Guardian, among others, and cover topics like refugee health, domestic violence, loneliness and widowhood. Frangou has received a National Newspaper Award and multiple National Magazine Awards for feature writing. In 2022, she was awarded the Landsberg Award from the Canadian Women’s Foundation and Canadian Journalism Foundation for her work shedding light on gender injustice in Canada. Visit her website at christinafrangou.com and follow her on Threads @thatcmf.

Curiouser?

Pre-order the book here!

• Denise Chong to Revisit Roots as a Calgary Distinguished Writer. –Calgary Herald
• Meet Rumana Monzur: Lawyer, Human Rights Activist & Domestic Violence Survivor. –Women of Influence
• Rumana Monzur: Recipient of the Physical Rehabilitation Category. –Courage To Come Back Awards 2020
• Rumana Monzur Interview from 2011. –CBC