Sarah Shourd is a writer and international solidarity activist currently based in Oakland, Calif. Sarah had been living in the Middle East for over a year, teaching Iraqi refugees and living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, when she was captured by Iranian forces somewhere along an unmarked border between Iran and Iraq in July ’09 and held in solitary confinement for 410 days. She is currently writing a book with Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal about their experience as hostages in Iran with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. For more see: sarahshourd.com.