Zarqa Nawaz, a British-Canadian freelance writer, journalist and filmmaker, will present a lecture and film screening titled “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Mosque,” on Thursday, April 28, at 4:10 p.m., in the Science Center Kennedy Auditorium. The event, part of Hamilton’s Humanities Forum, will address the effects of secularism on cultural production, such as television, and is free and open to the public.
Nawaz is a Muslim woman of Pakistani origin who grew up in the Toronto area. She holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Toronto and a bachelor of applied arts in journalism from Ryerson. She has worked as a freelance writer and broadcaster with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and her radio documentary with CBC, The Changing Rituals of Death, won first prize in the Radio Long Documentary category and the Chairman’s Award in Radio Production at the Ontario Telefest Awards.
Nawaz has also worked extensively in filmmaking, and several of her short films, BBQ Muslims and Death Threats, have appeared at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her documentary, Me and the Mosque, was broadcast on CBC’s Rough Cuts. Nawaz is also creator of the popular Canadian sitcom, Little Mosque on the Prairie, which features a fictional Muslim community in Saskatchewan.
