Nadia Murad: I Choose My Beginning

Overview

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Nadia Murad joins us for a conversation about her new memoir, I Choose My Beginning: A Story of Courage and Activism.

In 2014, Nadia Murad was living in northern Iraq when fighters from ISIS attacked her village, massacring hundreds — including her mother and six of her brothers — and forcing her, along with thousands of Yazidi women and girls, into a system of sexual slavery. After escaping captivity, she became one of the world's most influential advocates for survivors of genocide, transforming her personal experience into a global movement for justice. In 2018, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to stop the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and her advocacy for the rights of women and girls the world over.

Her life since then has been split in two. In one she is a global symbol of courage — a survivor and activist who has stood before world leaders to demand justice. In the other, she is a woman rediscovering ordinary joy. In I Choose My Beginning, Murad brings these two selves together. With honesty and grace, she transforms the pain of her past into a life defined not by what was done to her, but by strength, perseverance, and the freedom to choose happiness. From reshaping international law to building a life filled with friendship and love, Murad carries the memory of those she lost and those who survived. “Only when we tell our truths can we begin to correct the historical narrative and to become free," Gloria Steinem wrote in the book's foreword, shortly before her passing. "Because you have this book in your hands and heart, you too will be freer and better able to free others.”

How do we build a life that is defined not only by what we have endured, but by what we choose to become? In this intimate conversation, Murad draws on her remarkable journey as an activist to explore what it takes to move forward without forgetting, and to reclaim the power to tell our own stories.

“Nadia is a fierce warrior for justice and a beautiful human being I feel privileged to know. She will inspire women for generations.” — Amal Clooney