Born in the coastal city of Karachi, Pakistan, and raised in New York City, author Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi knows what it’s like to be a Pakistani woman growing up in the vastly different culture of the United States. This shows through in her new book, The Colour of Mehndi, which is the story of Nazli Akram, a woman who, like Pasha-Zaidi, was born in Pakistan and raised in the States. The difference is that Akram grapples with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (mental illness is a taboo subject in South Asian cultures). Akram struggles to maintain her religious and ethnic identity while dealing with a failing marriage, suppressed ambitions and mental illness. On Saturday evening, Pasha-Zaidi will read from her book at the Elizabeth Peirce Olmsted, M.D. Center for the Visually Impaired. The reading will be accompanied by South Asian foods, a traditional dancer, Mehndi—Henna hand painting—and an open discussion on women’s issues in regards to culture and religion. The discussion will be led by guest panelist Dr. Jane Fisher, Chair of the Women’s Studies Department at Canisius College.

Saturday, April 22 at 6pm. Elizabeth Pierce Olmsted, M.D. Center, 1170 Main Street (353-0246). $10/$5 senior