ATHENS, Ohio -- Cambodian author Chanrithy Him will visit Ohio University on April 18 to share her experience living under the Khmer Rouge regime. Him was only ten years old at the time of the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia, during which time more than a million Cambodians died by execution or starvation."

While at the university, Him will present a lecture entitled "Through the Eyes of a Child" for the International Studies Forum on Friday, April 18, at 4 p.m. in Scripps Hall, Anderson Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

She will perform classical Khmer dance at "Spring into Southeast Asia" on Friday, April 18, in the Baker Center Ballroom. Spring into Southeast Asia is an annual event sponsored by the Southeast Asian Studies Association. The event begins at 7 p.m. and will showcase food, music, traditional costumes and dance from Southeast Asia. Admission is $5.

Him won the 2001 Oregon Book Award for Literary Nonfiction for her memoir "When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge." In the book she tells the story of her life in a time of revolution. Copies of the book are available for purchase at the Little Professor Book Center on S. Court St. in Athens.

Born in Cambodia's Takeo Province in 1965, Him received a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Oregon and is now a medical interpreter (on call) for Oregon Health Sciences University and elsewhere in America. She also works for the Khmer Adolescent Project, studying post-traumatic stress disorder among Cambodian survivors of the Pol Pot regime. Him is currently working on "Unbroken Spirit," the sequel to her first book and frequently teaches and performs Cambodian classical dance.

Him's visit is sponsored by Ohio University's Southeast Asian Studies Program, the Southeast Asian Studies Association and by the Center for International Studies.