Terence Ward

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Terence S. Ward
BornTerence Sean Ward
(1955-07-10) July 10, 1955 (age 68)
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish, Italian, Arabic, Indonesian
NationalityAmerican, Irish
Spouse
​
(m. 1995)​

Terence S. Ward (born July 10, 1955) is an Irish-American writer and film producer.

Biography[edit]

Born in Boulder, Colorado, Ward grew up in Saudi Arabia and then Iran. He studied at The American University in Cairo, concentrating in Islamic political movements, and at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a BA in political science from the latter. He went on to earn an MBA from the International Management Institute (now International Institute for Management Development) in Geneva, Switzerland.[1]

He has been married to the Italian writer Idanna Pucci since 1995, and the couple divide their time between Florence, Italy, and New York.

Writing career[edit]

Searching for Hassan: An American Family's Journey Home to Iran[edit]

Searching for Hassan: An American Family's Journey Home to Iran (2002) is Ward's first book and recounts his family's journey back to Iran, after three decades away, in search of their long-lost friend. Ward appeared on Charlie Rose to share the work,[2] and it was reviewed in numerous publications, including the New York Times[3] and Publishers Weekly.[4] It was translated into Italian, French, German, Persian, and Indonesian, and in 2020 an updated edition with the title Searching for Hassan: A Journey to the Heart of Iran was published in two editions, by Simon & Schuster in the US and Ketabsara Tandis in Iran.[5][6][7]

The Guardian of Mercy: How an Extraordinary Painting by Caravaggio Changed an Ordinary Life Today[edit]

The Guardian of Mercy: How an Extraordinary Painting by Caravaggio Changed an Ordinary Life Today (2016), is also a true story, told in a double narrative, of Caravaggio in Naples and, four centuries later, the contemporary guardian of the old master's The Seven Acts of Mercy. According to Ingrid D. Rowland of the New York Review of Books, "this unusual and poignant book insists that Caravaggio’s paintings still call upon us to think and act, not just to look on passively, and in laying down this challenge, as Ward argues, the artist extends a compassionate hand to his viewers across the centuries."[8] Publishers Weekly described The Guardian of Mercy as "an eclectic mix of genres: it’s a travel memoir, an art history treatise, and a journalistic sketch of modern-day Naples,[9] and in a five-star review for the San Francisco Book Review, Aron Row called it "a rich tapestry that intricately weaves the story of an iconic painter and his influence on the viewer."[10] At the Vatican, during the Jubilee of Mercy, Ward, along with Cardinal Peter Turkson and Bishop Brian Farrell, presented the new act of mercy proposed by Pope Francis: Caring for Our Common Home, a vision of environmentalism focusing on thoughtful stewardship of the planet.[11]

The Wahhabi Code: How the Saudis Spread Extremism Globally[edit]

The Wahhabi Code: How the Saudis Spread Extremism Globally (2018), examines Saudi Arabia's export of Wahhabism and the rise of jihadi violence across the Islamic world. In conjunction with the book's release, Ward appeared on CNN to discuss with Christiane Amanpour the history of extremist ideology in Saudi Arabia.[12] His writing on the subject has also appeared on CNN.com and in the Los Angeles Times.[13][14]

Filmmaking[edit]

The first film Ward produced, in partnership with his wife Idanna Pucci, was the documentary feature Eugenia of Patagonia, about an ecologist mayor in remote southern Chile. The film screened on the festival circuit throughout Europe, and won several awards including the Audience Award at Turin's Festival Internazionale Cinema delle Donne 2005, and Best Film at CIMAMERICHE, Film Festival del Migrazione in 2009.[15][16][17]

Ward and Pucci also produced the documentary Black Africa, White Marble, which tells the story of Pucci's efforts to oppose Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso's plan to transfer explorer Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza's remains from Algiers to a new, multi-million-dollar mausoleum in Brazzaville. The film premiered in 2012 at African Film Festival New York and went on to win several awards at film festivals around the world, including the Best Documentary Audience Award at Cambridge Film Festival, Best Documentary at Annecy Italian Film Festival, and Best Documentary Feature at Berlin Independent Film Festival.[18][19][20]

A narrative feature produced by Ward and Pucci, Archaeology of a Woman, starring Sally Kirkland and Victoria Clark and directed by Sharon Greytak, premiered in 2012 and won a Golden Remi Award at WorldFest Houston.[21]

Their next project was the documentary short Talk Radio Tehran, which focuses on intrepid women pursuing their ambitions amid Iran's gender apartheid. It won the NYU Florence Best Short Film Award at the 2016 Middle East Now Film Festival in Florence, Italy and aired on the BBC as part of International Women's Day 2018.[22][23]

Professional associations[edit]

Ward is a member of PEN International and Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l'Oriente (ISMEO). He also serves as ambassador for Religions for Peace, the world's largest inter-religious movement.[1]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Searching for Hassan: An American Family's Journey Home to Iran (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002) ISBN 978-0618048441
  • The Guardian of Mercy: How an Extraordinary Painting by Caravaggio Changed an Ordinary Life Today (Arcade Publishing, 2016) ISBN 978-1628725926
  • The Wahhabi Code: How the Saudis Spread Extremism Globally (Arcade Publishing, 2018) ISBN 978-1628729719
  • Searching for Hassan: A Journey to the Heart of Iran (Tiller Press, 2020) ISBN 9781982142773

Filmography[edit]

As producer:

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Mr. Terence Ward". Religions for Peace. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  2. ^ Terence Ward - Charlie Rose, retrieved 2022-06-08
  3. ^ Goodheart, Adam (2002-03-10). "Pilgrims From the Great Satan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  4. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: SEARCHING FOR HASSAN: An American Family's Journey Home to Iran by Terence Ward". www.publishersweekly.com. 2002-01-01. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  5. ^ Ward, Terence (2020-03-10). Searching for Hassan. ISBN 978-1-982142-77-3.
  6. ^ "در جستجوی حسن - فروشگاه اینترنتی کتابسرای تندیس - فروشگاه آنلاین کتاب". www.tandisbookstore.com. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  7. ^ ""در جستجوی حسن"؛ روایت سر دلبری از زبان دیگری". ایرنا (in Persian). 2021-03-30. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  8. ^ Rowland, Ingrid D. "The Virtuoso of Compassion | Ingrid D. Rowland". ISSN 0028-7504. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  9. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: The Guardian of Mercy: How an Extraordinary Painting by Caravaggio Changed an Ordinary Life Today by Terence Ward". www.publishersweekly.com. 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  10. ^ "The Guardian of Mercy: How an Extraordinary Painting by Caravaggio Changed an Ordinary Life Today". San Francisco Book Review. 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  11. ^ "Pope Francis proposes a new work of mercy: Caring for the common home". Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  12. ^ Author on the link between Wahhabism and jihad - CNN Video, retrieved 2022-06-08
  13. ^ Ward, Terence. "The chilling message of the Saudi executions". CNN. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  14. ^ Ward, Terence (21 October 2018). "Op-Ed: Khashoggi case threatens decades of Saudi impunity". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  15. ^ "Site du Festival de Films de Femmes de Créteil". Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  16. ^ "Euro-American Friendship in Provence". Cineuropa – the best of european cinema. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  17. ^ Guglielmino, Ada (2005-10-17). "Festival Cinema delle Donne". NonSoloCinema (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  18. ^ "Black Africa, White Marble | African Film Festival, Inc". Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  19. ^ "The Forgotten Kingdom wins Cambridge Golden Punt". Cineuropa – the best of european cinema. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  20. ^ "Winners announced for BIFF 2014 – Berlin Independent Film Festival". Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  21. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (2014-09-11). "A Weakness for Cops, a Crime to Solve". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
  22. ^ "NEWS 2016: Winners and Awards of Middle East Now 2016". Middle East Now. 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  23. ^ ""رادیو تهران" در آپارات". BBC News فارسی (in Persian). 2018-03-01. Retrieved 2021-04-09.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Terence_Ward&oldid=1187345165"