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= Terence Ward = Terence Sean Ward (born July 10, 1955) is an American/Irish writer, film producer, and cultural consultant.

Biography
Born in Boulder, Colorado, Ward grew up in Saudi Arabia and then Iran. He studied at The American University in Cairo, concentrating in Islamic political movements, and at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a BA in Political Science from the latter. He went on to earn an MBA from the International Management Institute (now International Institute for Management Development) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Based in Athens, Greece, for a decade, he advised clients across the Middle East for the consulting firm Middle East Industrial Relations Counselors. He also worked as a management consultant for the Hay Group in New York. After receiving the International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance in Geneva, Ward participated in the United Nations Mission in East Timor during the 1999 independence referendum, and with the Open Society Institute in Burma.

He has been married to the Italian writer Idanna Pucci since 1995, and the couple divide their time between Italy and New York.

Writing and filmmaking career
Ward's first book, Searching for Hassan: An American Family's Journey Home to Iran, recounts his family’s journey back to Iran, after three decades away, in search of their long-lost friend. Originally released in 2002 and translated into Italian, French, German, Persian, and Indonesian. In 2020, an updated edition with the title Searching for Hassan: A Journey to the Heart of Iran was published in two editions, by Simon & Schuster in the USA and Ketabsara Tandis in Iran.

His next work, The Guardian of Mercy: How an Extraordinary Painting by Caravaggio Changed an Ordinary Life Today, is also a true story, told in a double narrative, of Caravaggio in Naples and, four centuries later, the contemporary guardian of the old master's The Seven Acts of Mercy. At the Vatican, during the Jubilee of Mercy, Ward, along with Cardinal Peter Turkson and Bishop Brian Farrell, presented the new act of mercy proposed by Pope Francis: Caring for Our Common Home, a vision of environmentalism focusing on thoughtful stewardship of the planet.

His latest book, The Wahhabi Code: How the Saudis Spread Extremism Globally, examines Saudi Arabia's export of Wahhabism and the rise of jihadi violence across the Islamic World.

The first film Ward produced, in partnership with his wife Idanna Pucci, was the documentary feature Eugenia of Patagonia, about an ecologist mayor in remote southern Chile. The film screened on the festival circuit throughout Europe, and won several awards including the Audience Award at Turin's Festival Internazionale Cinema delle Donne 2005, and Best Film at CIMAMERICHE, Film Festival del Migrazione in 2009

Ward and Pucci also produced the documentary Black Africa, White Marble, which tells the story of Pucci's efforts to oppose Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso's plan to transfer explorer Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza's remains from Algiers to a new, multi-million-dollar mausoleum in Brazzaville. The film premiered in 2012 at African Film Festival New York and went on to went several awards at film festivals around the world, including the Best Documentary Audience Award at Cambridge Film Festival, Best Documentary at Annecy Italian Film Festival, and Best Documentary Feature at Berlin Independent Film Festival.

A narrative feature produced by Ward and Pucci, Archaeology of a Woman, starring Sally Kirkland and Victoria Clark and directed by Sharon Greytak, premiered in 2012 and won a Golden Remi Award at WorldFest Houston.

Their next project was the documentary short Talk Radio Tehran, which focuses on intrepid women pursuing their ambitions amid Iran's gender apartheid. It won the NYU Florence Best Short Film Award at the 2016 Middle East Now Film Festival in Florence, Italy and aired on the BBC as part of the International Day of the Woman 2018.

Professional associations
Ward is a member of PEN International and Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l'Oriente (ISMEO). He is also on the advisory board of the Markaz Review, dedicated to new writing from the Middle East, and serves as ambassador for Religions for Peace, the world's largest inter-religious movement.

Filmography
As producer:


 * Eugenia of Patagonia (2004)
 * Black Africa, White Marble (2012)
 * Archaeology of a Woman (2012)
 * Talk Radio Tehran (short) (2015)