Karen Armstrong

writer

Karen Armstrong is the author of numerous other books on religious affairs--including *A History of God*, *The Battle for God*, *Holy War*, *Islam*, *Buddha*, and *The Great Transformation*--and two memoirs, *Through the Narrow Gate* and *The Spiral Staircase*. Her work has been translated into 45 languages. She has addressed members of the US Congress on three occasions; lectured to policy makers at the US State Department; participated in the World Economic Forum in New York, Jordan, and Davos; addressed the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington and New York; is increasingly invited to speak in Muslim countries; and is now an ambassador for the UN Alliance of Civilizations. In February 2008 she was awarded the TED Prize and is currently working with TED on a major international project to launch and propagate a Charter for Compassion, created online by the general public and crafted by leading thinkers in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, to be signed in the fall of 2009 by a thousand religious and secular leaders. She lives in London.