New Zealander Mary Quin is in the country on a book tour. Mary was one of 16 tourists kidnapped in Yemen by local militants. Her book, Kidnapped in Yemen recounts Mary’s escape during a horrific gun battle between the militants and the Yemen army, in which four tourists were killed and two wounded.

It made headlines worldwide, but she’s also well-known as a Fortune 500 company executive; a major player in the American corporate world. She has been Senior Vice President of Xerox Corporation, and invented new alloys used in electronic, medical and aerospace applications at Raychem Corporation in California. She has an MBA from Harvard and in 1998, she was a member of the US State Department’s delegation to the Vital Voices Conference on economic development in Northern Ireland. Blimey.

When she got home after her escape, nothing seemed the same. Obviously. She realised that we “do not need to be kidnapped by terrorists to be held hostage. We let ourselves be kidnapped constantly, our lives held to ransom in return for approval or prestige, ambition or expectations”. So after an 18-year career in Corporate America, Dr. Quin is now living in Alaska, and has reinvented herself as a writer, an entrepreneur and is the founder of the 100 heroines project, a programme that recognises and provides grants to women’s rights activists worldwide.

Check her out (and sorry about the short notice) at these venues:

Tonight, Thursday 10th June, sponsored by the Herald and Dymocks, at Stamford Plaza Ballroom, Auckland, 6pm, tickets $15 from, tickets at Ticketek;

Tomorrow, Friday 11th June, sponsored by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, a ‘breakfast meeting’ 7.15am (for a 7.30am start) - 8.45am at the Crowne Plaza, Auckland City, members $36, non members $45. Call 09-309 6100 for tickets;

Or on Monday 14 June, sponsored by The Book Council and Random House at the National Library Auditorium, Aitken Street, Wellington. Book Council members $6, non-members $9. Email events@bookcouncil.org.nz for details.