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Lunch With Books: An American Woman in Qatar

November 21, 2014
12:00pm - 12:00pm

Lunch With Books: An American Woman in Qatar

Moving to what had been mostly a barren wasteland as it was changing, everything was about to change for Pittsburgh's Lisa Kirchner: She lost her dogs, endured a suicide bombing and got divorced. In a Muslim country . . . Surrounded by a sea of women wrapped in black she disappeared (pale hair and all), later got to travel, open her mind, embrace the black-robed ladies she feared, meet some truly powerful women and change herself . . .

Pittsburgh author Lisa Kirchner will discuss her book, Hello American Lady Creature: What I Learned as a Woman in Qatar 

More Information:

New York, NY -- “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” That's the big question that journalist Lisa Kirchner ultimately gains the courage to ask herself and act on in her darkly humorous, smart and sexy first memoir Hello American Lady Creature: What I Learned as a Woman in Qatar (Greenpoint Press: New York, NY, May 2014, $20, softcover,
ISBN 978-0-9886968-6-0, page-count numbers forthcoming, http://www.helloamericanladycreature.com, www.LisaLKirchner.com , video trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjRSd4YwIlA&feature=youtu.be ).

Unlike the typical post-divorce travel narrative, hers is the story of the person left behind. "And what better place to [redefine her womanhood] than in the Middle East," observes Ophira Eisenberg, Ask Me Another (National Public Radio) host and Screw Everyone! author, who also says, Kirchner's tale is "like nothing I've ever read . . . Brimming with wit, brave reflections, and loads of laughs." Adds former NPR correspondent and Geography of Bliss author Eric Weiner: “Think Bridget Jones meets Lawrence of Arabia.”

Not Blending In


After 9/11 and before the first al-Qaeda-urged, anti-Western bombing in Qatar in 2005, Lisa Kirchner and her husband in 2004 moved from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the Persian Gulf together with the hope he might become a foreign correspondent. “With my pale hair and sea-colored eyes, I did not blend in,” Kirchner says. “I was regarded as an almost alien being, which made me incredibly lonely. Until my husband actually left. And then I realized I could get away with almost anything.”


In this universal tale of re-building one’s life, Kirchner vividly offers up her own personal journey. The story tells what happens when a freshly-minted divorcee finds herself in a Muslim land where it’s illegal to date, yet sex in souq city smolders.

Appreciating the Qataris' Human Hopes, Heartbreaks


“Zen boot camp” is the surprising upshot for this marketing director, who takes a job helping Carnegie Mellon University launch its Middle East campus. Along the way, Kirchner’s therapist, yoga teacher, a Bornean tribal chief, and finally the women of Qatar show her how to get up and over life’s pain and setbacks. Her eyes are opened culturally as well as she journeys from fearing the black-robed women in abayas to appreciating the human hopes and heartbreaks of the Qatari women and men she meets. All this and more discoveries await readers.


Essays from the book have appeared in The Washington Post, YourTango.com and xoJane.com. Ms. Kirchner has also written for Salon, TheFix.com, Budget Travel and Huffington Post and hosts her own radio show, “The Courage to Change,” recently launched on Intention Radio (intentionradio.com). She plans to begin a 10-city, United States book tour, starting in spring 2014, soon after the 9th anniversary of the first al-Qaeda-urged, anti-Western bombing in Qatar is observed and Women's History Month is celebrated in March.


"Lunch With Books” is the library’s flagship program for adult patrons. Bring a bag lunch and enjoy presentations by authors, poets, historians, musicians and a variety of other people. Complimentary beverages are provided. These free programs usually start at noon on Tuesdays in the auditorium on the lower level of the library.

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Feedback from our guests:

“Lunch With Books is an outstanding program — one of the best in the country.” -NPR Journalist Matthew Algeo, The President is a Sick Man

“With a new book in hand, I’ve visited a lot of libraries lately, and I think the Ohio County Public Library is my all-time favorite.” -Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule (National Book Award winner)

“We set a personal attendance record and personal best for the number of books sold!” -Peter Zeranski, Polish Classic Recipes

“I am completely smitten with the Lunch with Books patrons...It’s not always easy to read one’s fiction in public, but this library family provided a sea of welcoming faces filled with warmth, attentiveness, and good will. Their generous laughter and emotional investment helped me to bring my prose fully to life.” -Marie Manilla, Still Life with Plums and Shrapnel

“If I want the best and most attentive and responsive audience I know I will have it at Lunch With Books.” -Jim O'Brien, The Chief and Steeler Stuff 

“This is the best series of its kind that I've seen in all my travels in OH-WV-PA.” -Jim Joyce, The Bicycle Book: Wit, Wisdom, & Wanderings 

“Lunch With Books is the best adult library program that I have seen in the state.” -Bob Barnett, Growing Up in the Last Small Town


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