Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, discussed his new autobiography, The Road to Home: My Life and Times (Simon & Schuster, 2003), at the Library of Congress Monday, May 19, in Washington, D.C.

In June 1997, Gregorian became the 12th president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, the grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911. Previously, he was the president of Brown University for nine years and served as president of the New York Public Library from 1981 until 1989. Born to Armenian parents in Tabriz, Iran, Gregorian attended elementary and secondary school in Iran and Lebanon, respectively. Majoring in history and the humanities, he entered Stanford University in 1956 and graduated with honors in 1958. He earned a Ph.D. from Stanford in 1964.

Gregorian’s publications include The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan: Politics of Reform and Modernization, 1880-1946 (Stanford University Press, 1969) and Islam: a Mosaic, not a Monolith (Brookings Institution Press, 2003). He is the recipient of numerous fellowships and honors. In 1998, President Clinton awarded him the National Humanities Medal.

The Center for the Book was established in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books, reading, literacy and libraries.