Contemplative Voices Award
Honoring Valarie Kaur
Sunday, November 22, 2026
3-5pm ET on Zoom
Shalem’s Contemplative Voices Award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to contemplative understanding, living and leadership and whose witness helps others live from the divine wellspring of compassion, strength, and authentic vision.
Shalem is pleased to award our 2026 Contemplative Voices Award to Valarie Kaur, renowned social justice leader, lawyer, best-selling author, award-winning filmmaker, faith leader, mother, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. You can read more about her background below.
Please join us at 3 p.m. on Sunday, November 22, 2026, for this live, virtual event to honor Ms. Kaur and hear from her on her latest book, Sage Warrior. Our gathering will also include an update on our activities this past year and the opportunity to meet Shalem’s new executive director!
You can purchase tickets for the event HERE.
We are also excited to offer an opportunity to extend the dialogue by participating in Community Conversation on Sunday, January 10 from 3 to 5 p.m. Participants will be provided with a copy of Ms. Kaur’s book, Sage Warrior, and join others in a facilitated discussion of her book and an exploration of how we can apply the wisdom of her teachings in our communities. This Community Conversation on January 10, 2027, will include small group conversations and a whole group discussion.
You can purchase tickets for the event HERE.
Valarie Kaur
VALARIE KAUR is a renowned social justice leader, lawyer, best-selling author, award-winning filmmaker, faith leader, mother, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. She became an activist when a member of her community – a Sikh American father – was murdered in the racial violence that followed 9/11. In the last twenty-five years, Valarie has led visionary campaigns for justice – in the wake of hate murders, at the sites of mass shootings, inside America’s supermax prisons, and at detention camps from Tijuana to Guantanamo. The communities she served taught her an essential ingredient to birthing a healthy future: love. Valarie now leads the Revolutionary Love Project, igniting a national movement to reclaim love as a force for justice, healing, and transformation.
Valarie’s debut book SEE NO STRANGER: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love is a #1 LA Times bestseller based on her acclaimed TED talk. Her children’s book WORLD OF WONDER inspires the love ethic in the next generation. And her latest book SAGE WARRIOR is an epic journey into Sikh wisdom and a spiritual handbook for apocalyptic times.
A daughter of Punjabi Sikh farmers in California, Valarie earned degrees at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School and holds several honorary doctorates. In 2022, Valarie was honored at the White House in the first-ever Uniters Ceremony, recognizing her as a visionary leader whose work is healing America. Since Fall 2024, Valarie has led the Revolutionary Love Tour, a healing odyssey to 65 cities across the United States, igniting one message: “Revolutionary Love is the call of our times.” Valarie lives in Los Angeles where – in the wake of wildfires, ICE raids, or militarized crackdown of protests– she is often found in the streets with her community, putting love into action.
Website: valariekaur.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/valariekaur/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/valarie.kaur.page
COST & REGISTRATION
Purchase tickets for the 2026 Contemplative Voices Award below.
Please purchase one ticket per person.
Please note that ticket fees are not tax-deductible.
Sunday, November 22, from 3-5 p.m.
$25.00
Join us for this live event honoring Valarie Kaur. You will receive a zoom link several days before the event.
Sunday, November 22, from 3-5 p.m.
$55.00
Join us for this live event honoring Valarie Kaur
and receive a recording of the live event.
Sunday, November 22, from 3-5 p.m.
and Sunday, January 10, 2026, from 3-5 p.m.
$110.00
In addition to access to the live event and a recording of the event, you will receive a copy of Ms. Kaur’s book, Sage Warrior and an invitation to a follow-up book discussion event on January 10. A second zoom link will be sent in early January to access the Community Conversation.
Cancellation Policy: Due to the nature of this event, refunds are not available.
PRIOR RECIPIENTS OF THE CONTEMPLATIVE VOICES AWARD
2011 Margaret Guenther and John Philip Newell
2013 Richard Rohr
2014 Cynthia Bourgeault
2016 Thomas Keating
2017 Parker Palmer
2019 Carrie Newcomer
2020 Barbara Holmes
2021 Joanna Macy
2022 Carolyn Jacobs
2023 Cole Arthur Riley and James Finley
2024 Rhonda V. Magee and Adam Bucko
2025 Fr. James Martin, S. J.
HAVE QUESTIONS?
Please contact Erica Van Lunen at erica@shalem.org with questions about the Contemplative Voices Award.
Photo Credits: Photo of Valarie Kaur next to bio: Nina Konji. Painted portrait of Valarie Kaur: Tom McGill.