More about the Author
Greg Mortenson is the co-founder of the nonprofit Central Asia Institute, founder of Pennies for Peace, and co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea, which has been on the bestseller list since its January 2007 release and was Time’s Asia Book of the Year.
Mortenson was born in Minnesota in 1957. He graduated from the University of South Dakota and pursued graduate studies in neurophysiology. On July 24, 1992, Mortenson’s younger sister, Christa, died from a massive seizure.
In 1993, to honor her memory, Mortenson attempted to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain, but failed.
While recovering after his attempt on K2 in a village called Korphe near the mountain, Mortenson met a group of children sitting in the dirt writing with sticks in the sand, and made a promise to help them build a school. From that commitment grew a remarkable humanitarian campaign. As of 2008, he has helped establish over 78 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan which provide education to over 28,000 children, including 18,000 girls, where few educational opportunities existed before. He is one of few foreigners who has worked extensively in the region now considered on the front lines in the war on terror. On August 14, 2008, Pakistan’s government announced that Mortenson would receive Pakistan’s highest civilian award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (“Star of Pakistan”) for his courage and humanitarian effort to promote education and literacy in rural areas. The award was conferred on March 23, 2009, by Pakistan’s President Asaf Ali Zardari in an official ceremony in Islamabad.
Mortenson’s work has not been without difficulty. In 1996 he survived an eight day armed kidnapping in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) tribal areas of Pakistan and escaped a 2003 firefight between feuding Afghan warlords by hiding for eight hours under putrid animal hides. He has overcome two fatwehs from enraged Islamic mullahs, endured CIA investigations, and received hate mail and death threats after 9/11, all for helping to educate Muslim children.
NBC newscaster Tom Brokaw calls Mortenson, “one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, who is really changing the world.” Congresswoman Mary Bono (R-CA ) says “I’ve learned more from Greg Mortenson about the causes of terrorism than I did during all our briefings on Capitol Hill. He is a true hero whose creativity, courage, and compassion exemplify the true ideals of the American spirit.”
Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson’s extraordinary account of his journey into another culture, has won numerous awards and has been selected by the Pentagon for use in training U.S. military personnel.
