Iran in Context: Pulitzer Center CEO Lisa Gibbs' Conversation With Grantees Scott Anderson and Reza Sayah

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Please join Lisa Gibbs, CEO of the Pulitzer Center, in a timely conversation with Pulitzer Center grantees Reza Sayah and Scott Anderson about the war in Iran—and the role of journalism in helping illuminate the underlying causes of conflicts in the region.

Anderson will sign copies of his award-winning book King of Kings, a critical lens into the history of the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution, including the role of the United States. This event will also revisit Anderson's seminal project Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart, published by The New York Times Magazine in 2016. 

Sayah will provide a current perspective on the realities in Iran today, including views from citizens across the country—from senior officials to teachers, mothers, doctors, students, and shopkeepers.

Panelists

• Scott Anderson is an award-winning journalist who has reported from Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Chechnya, Sudan, Bosnia, El Salvador, and many other strife-torn countries. He is the author of two novels and six works of nonfiction, including international bestseller Lawrence in Arabia; Fractured Lands, a collaboration with the Pulitzer Center and The New York Times; and most recently King of Kings, the story of the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution. Anderson won the 2025 Kirkus Prize for nonfiction.
• Reza Sayah is a journalist and filmmaker based in Tehran, Iran. He has reported for international news organizations including PBS NewsHour, CNN, Al Jazeera, and France 24. Most recently, he reported on the Iran war. Last month, he was the first Western journalist to interview an active senior officer of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
• Lisa Gibbs is president and CEO of the Pulitzer Center. She joined the Center in 2024 after serving as vice president of philanthropic development at The Associated Press.