Renowned British author Karen Armstrong will be in Kuala Lumpur from June 15-18 for several speaking engagements. This will be her first visit to the country.

On Friday, Armstrong, 63, will deliver a keynote address at an international conference themed 'Islam and the West: Bridging The Gap' organised by the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) under the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

On June 16, she will deliver a public lecture organised by IDFR, the International Movement For a Just World (JUST), Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim), Institute of Strategic Studies and Universiti Sains Malaysia.

The lecture entitled, 'The Role of Religion in the 21st Century' will be followed by a question and answer session chaired by Just president Dr Chandra Muzaffar.

She will also be speaking at the Inter-Civilisational Youth Engagement Programme (IYEP) in Bangi. The June 18 programme will be attended by 150 youths from around the world.

The programme is organised by Just, Abim, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) with the Chicago-based Inter-Religious Engagement Project: A Network for the 21st Century and the World Council of Muslims for Interfaith Relations (WCMIR).

Books banned

The Malaysian government has banned several of Armstrong's books, including bestseller A History of God and Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet in 2005.

Last year, her New York Times bestseller The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam was also slapped with a ban .

The book, published in 2000, aimed to promote better understanding of the three major religions.

However, the Internal Security Ministry had banned Armstrong's book along with 17 others as they were deemed to be able to "disrupt peace and harmony."

A former nun and an Oxford University graduate, Armstrong is a prolific, acclaimed and controversial writer on subjects touching on all of the three major monotheistic religions.

In 1999, the Islamic Center of Southern California honored Armstrong, for "promoting understanding among faiths."