WENDY PEARLMAN

Acclaimed Author + Scholar of Middle East Politics

located near: Chicago, Illinois

book Wendy Pearlman to speak at your event

Speaking topics

HUMANITY AND BELONGING

ORAL HISTORIES

REFUGEE EXPERIENCES

POLITICAL CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Middle East politics

Syria

Israeli-Palestinian History and Conflict

Event types

KEYNOTES
LECTURES
FIRESIDE CHATS
PANELS
WORKSHOPS
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
BOOK TALKS & READINGS
VIRTUAL EVENTS
MODERATION
INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
FESTIVALS
INTERVIEWS

wendy pearlman’s bio

Dr. Wendy Pearlman (she/her) is a scholar of Middle East politics and author of the critically-acclaimed We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria, a breath-taking mosaic of first-hand Syrian testimonials that chronicles the Syrian uprising, war and refugee crisis. Drawn from hundreds of interviews with displaced Syrians, the book was excerpted in Harper's, received glowing reviews from the New York Times, New Yorker, Guardian, and Chicago Review of Books, among other outlets, and was longlisted for the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. We Crossed a Bridge concludes with the flight of millions of refugees. Wendy’s follow-up book, The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora (2024), takes this exodus as its point of departure. Featuring a completely new cast of speakers now on five continents, it presents gripping testimonials about losing home, searching for home, and forging new understandings of home itself. Recasting “refugee crises” as diaspora-making, The Home I Worked to Make challenges readers to grapple with the hard-won wisdom of those who survive war and to see, with fresh eyes, what home means in their own lives.

Wendy earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University, an MA from Georgetown University, and a BA from Brown University and is currently a Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. Frequently invited to give guest lectures on the Middle East, Wendy is a compelling speaker who has delivered hundreds of talks on four continents, making the most complex topics accessible to any audience. Addressing audiences ranging from retirees to high school students to book clubs, she has spoken at universities, public libraries, museums, art galleries, churches, literary festivals, bookstores, conferences, and volunteer trainings. She has done dozens of interviews for print, radio, television, and podcasts.

Wendy has also co-authored a memoir for young readers, Muzoon: A Syrian Refugee Speaks Out, and written three highly lauded books related to Palestinian politics and the Arab-Israeli conflict: Occupied Voices: Stories of Everyday Life from the Second Intifada; Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement; and Triadic Coercion: Israel’s Targeting of States That Host Nonstate Actors (co-authored with Boaz Atzili). Her essays and articles have appeared in Time, Guernica, Huffington Post, Washington Post, and Reuters. She frequently gives Palestine and Israel 101 talks at universities and other venues across the country.