National Press Club Headliners: Zahra Joya & Amie Ferris-Rotman

Exiled Afghan journalist Zahra Joya will discuss her memoir, “The Vanishing Girl of Kabul: Betrayal, Hope and an Extraordinary Fight for Women’s Rights” and the current situation for women in Afghanistan with her co-author, British journalist Amie Ferris-Rotman, at a Headliners book event at 6 pm on Thursday, Oct. 15 at the National Press Club.

In 2020, after working as a journalist in Kabul for more than a decade, Joya founded Rukhshana Media to report on the stories of women and girls in Afghanistan. Less than a year later, following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban returned to power, banning women from education and most jobs and forcing Joya into hiding. She and her siblings were ultimately airlifted from Kabul by the UK government. There are now fewer than 200 female journalists working in Afghanistan, a country of 43 million people, and Afghanistan ranks 175th out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

The event will include a discussion with the authors. Joya, named one of Time Magazine’s Women of the Year in 2022, will appear via livestream. Ferris-Rotman, who reported on Afghanistan's transformation as Reuters senior correspondentn in Kabul, will appear in person.

Ticket prices are $5 for National Press Club members and $10 for general admission.