Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseiniis an Afghan-born American novelist and physician. After graduating from college, he worked as a doctor in California, an occupation that he likened to "an arranged marriage". He has published three novels, most notably his 2003 debut The Kite Runner, all of which are at least partially set in Afghanistan and feature an Afghan as the protagonist. Following the success of The Kite Runner he retired from medicine to write full-time...
NationalityAfghani
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth4 March 1965
CityKabul, Afghanistan
I have a particular disdain for Islamic extremism, and of course, in both 'The Kite Runner' and 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' that's obvious.
I think the changes that have happened, there have been come positive, but by and large, you have to say the changes have been negative. The situation has reached a fairly critical stage in Afghanistan.
In Kabul, hot running water had been like fathers, a rare commodity.
I don't listen to music when I write - I find it distracting.
For a novelist, it's kind of an onerous burden to represent an entire culture.
Human behavior is messy and unpredictable and unconcerned with convenient symmetries.
I returned to Afghanistan because I had a deep longing to see for myself how people lived, what they thought of their government, how optimistic they were about the future of their homeland.
People find meaning and redemption in the most unusual human connections.
Afghan women, as a group, I think their suffering has been equaled by very few other groups in recent world history.
I was good at being a doctor; my patients liked me. At times people trust you with things they wouldn't tell their spouses. It was a real privilege.
You have think tanks like the widely respected Atlantic Council that have published reports in the past year that have called Afghanistan a failing state.
I think the emancipation of women in Afghanistan has to come from inside, through Afghans themselves, gradually, over time.
I think that to fully appreciate baseball, it helps to have been born in the U.S.
Don't be afraid to tell the truth. It's better to hurt someone by truth than to make them happy by lies.