LITERATURE + LECTURES

Brazos presents an Author Appearance: Joanne Herring.

The Dame, The Knight, The Ambassador. Julia Roberts played her in “Charlie Wilson’s War”, but the real-life Texan is far more interesting than any movie could capture. The international socialite, global political activist and former Texas television anchor, Joanne King Herring is known for her improbable fight with the Mujahedeen against the former Soviet Union. But her full story – with all its God, guns and Gucci glory – is even more remarkable.

Born in a man’s world at a time when women had limited choices, Joanne King Herring blazed a trail with allies as unlikely as Charlie Wilson, Pierre Cardin and President Ronald Reagan, and in so doing forged new paths for women in Pakistan, Afghanistan and America. Now she is doing it again – this time without guns. Joanne has a plan to rebuild Afghanistan one village at a time through food, water and education. Currently, her Marshall Plan Charities group is building a model village in Northern Afghanistan to prove that an entire village of 10,000 people can be structured for the cost of keeping one soldier in the field for a year. She is determined to bring American troops home and equip Afghanistan to stand on its own.

Joanne hosted the Joanne King Show on television for 15 years, was made roaming Ambassador of Pakistan and received the Quaid-e-Azam award, the highest honor given by the nation of Pakistan. She was made Dame by the Order of St. Francis and has been knighted by the King of Belgium. She is also the recipient of the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge Award and co-chaired the Special Olympics in New York City with Henry Kissinger. She tells her fascinating continuing story in her own words with charm and delight in her extraordinary new memoir, Diplomacy and Diamonds: My Wars from the Ballroom to the Battlefield. Joanne lives in Houston, as do her two sons.