Bestselling author and speaker Abbas Nazari fled the Taliban in Afghanistan as a child, and was resettled in New Zealand after his family were rescued by the Tampa container ship in 2001. In 2019, Abbas was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the United States, where he graduated with a Masters in Security Studies from Georgetown University, Washington DC. His memoir, After the Tampa: From Afghanistan to New Zealand (Allen & Unwin, 2021), is a #1 bestseller. Abbas is a sought-after speaker and media commentator, a prominent advocate for refugees, and was a semi-finalist for the 2022 University of Canterbury Young New Zealander of the Year.