Afghan American Archives

Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi [in Booklist]

05 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Veteran narrator Mozhan Marnò has one of those gratifyingly recognizable, sigh-inducing audiobook voices that immediately immerses readers. Here, for 12 hours, she commands Afghan American pediatrician-turned-novelist Nadia Hashimi’s (A House without Windows, 2018) latest, ciphering the multi-pronged epic over decades and across continents, cultures, and...

The Opium Prince by Jasmine Aimaq [in Shelf Awareness]

22 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Canadian, Fiction, Repost

In her extraordinary fiction debut, The Opium Prince, Afghan Swedish academic and communications expert Jasmine Aimaq, who lives in Canada, combines elements of literary thriller, sociopolitical exposé, and historical witnessing. The Afghan people lived in relative – albeit tense – balance between the 1973 coup d'etat...

Dancing in the Mosque: An Afghan Mother’s Letter to Her Son by Homeira Qaderi, translated by Zaman Stanizai [in Shelf Awareness]

05 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

During the 985 nights since she was cleaved from her then 19-month-old, still-breastfeeding son, Homeira Qaderi managed to escape her native Afghanistan and eventually settle in California. Her son, now 4, has been told his mother is dead. With this haunting memoir, Dancing in the...

99 Nights in Logar by Jamil Jan Kochai [in Booklist]

14 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Central Asian, Fiction, Pakistani American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

During summer 2005, when “the American war was sort of dozing,” 12-year-old Marwand, his brother, and mother arrived in Logar, Afghanistan to visit extended family. The six years since Marwand’s last visit from the U.S. isn’t enough for Budabash – more wolf than dog –...

A House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi [in Library Journal]

17 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Fiction, Repost

Accused of brutally murdering her husband, Zeba lands in jail. A mother of four, wife to Kamal, and obedient to Kamal's family, Zeba can't remember what happened. She remains silently resigned, realizing that in contemporary Afghanistan, just being a woman is enough to threaten not...

When the Moon Is Low by Nadia Hashimi

11 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Fiction

Told in two distinct narratives by a mother and her eldest son, When the Moon Is Low follows an Afghan family's desperate journey through Turkey, Greece, Italy, and beyond, in search of safety and peace. [If you choose to go aural, Sneha Mathan (again, as always) is an ideal...

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

09 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Fiction

See the entwined pair of hands? Although the girl and woman never meet, they remain forever bound by both blood and experience over a tumultuous century in Afghanistan. The woman is Shekiba, the only daughter in a family of sons, whose gender alone makes her a target of abuse...

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

17 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Fiction

Before this novel, Khaled Hosseini's third, even hit shelves on May 21, the world had already made it a bestseller; many months – more likely years – will pass before it fades from the international spotlight. Although I had the galley for months before, I kept it...

A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan by Nelofer Pazira

30 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Canadian, Memoir, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

In September 1978, three months before her fifth birthday, Nelofer Pazira went to visit her father on the third day of what would become a five-month unjust imprisonment; his alleged crime, like thousands of other Afghans at the time, was not supporting the Communist government....

One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature edited by Zohra Saed and Sahar Muradi, foreword by Mir Tamim Ansary

27 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan American, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Short Stories

The title of this diverse anthology is taken from the opening line of Afghan fairy tales, not unlike 'once upon a time.' In this case, afsanah, seesanah – one story, thirty stories...

However Tall the Mountain: A Dream, Eight Girls, and a Journey Home by Awista Ayub

17 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

"However tall the mountain, there's always a road," so goes the Afghan proverb that opens Awista Ayub's inspiring memoir. Thank goodness for the energy of youth to actually find the...

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini [in AsianWeek]

30 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Fiction, Repost

Kite Runner A resonating, breathtaking first novel that chronicles the relationship of two boys, born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan – both motherless, both nursed by the same woman and both lives inextricably linked, even in...

Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream 1899-1999 edited by Angel Velasco Shaw and Luis H. Francia [in AsianWeek]

28 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan American, Filipina/o, Filipina/o American, Nonfiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

Vestiges of War An overwhelming, necessary, eye-witnessing anthology of the legacy of a century of colonial – political, economic, and especially social – occupation of the Philippines by the United States. Review: "New and...

BookDragon Afghan American