Cometas En El Cielo: Novela Grafica

Biography

As he grew older, Hosseini feared the Afghanistan that existed prior to the Soviet war and the subsequent rise of the Taliban would be forgotten forever. Even as he reached great levels of success as a practicing internist in California two decades after last having been to Afghanistan, he never forgot his roots. So, rising at 4AM every morning before beginning his medical shift, Hosseini began writing a story that not only captured the unsullied Afghanistan of his youth but also tracked its ensuing downfall. "I wanted to write about Afghanistan before the Soviet war because that is largely a forgotten period in modern Afghan history," he told Newsline.com. "For many people in the west, Afghanistan is synonymous with the Soviet war and the Taliban. I wanted to remind people that Afghans had managed to live in peaceful anonymity for decades, that the history of the Afghans in the 20th century has been largely pacific and harmonious."

The novel that resulted from Hosseini's early morning writing sessions was The Kite Runner, a heart-rending tale about two Afghan boys, best friends pulled apart by personal betrayal and the immense upheaval of war. Drawing raves from a long list of publications, this 2003 debut went on to become an international hit. Four years later, Hosseini delivered A Thousand Splendid Suns, an emotionally resonant crowd-pleaser focused on the plight of oppressed Afghan women before and during the rise of the Taliban.

In 2003, Hosseini revisited the place of his birth for the first time in nearly 27 years. "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," he said. "I was overwhelmed with the kindness of people and found that they had managed to retain their dignity, their pride, and their hospitality under unspeakably bleak conditions." In Hosseini's gripping novels, their voices rise strong and clear above the clash of violence.

Good To Know

When it comes to chickens, Hosseini is a chicken. "I'm terrified of chickens," the writer confesses. "Absolutely petrified. This intense and irrational fear is, I believe, caused by the memory of a black hen we owned in Kabul when I was a child. She used to peck her own chicks to death as soon as the eggs hatched."

When Hosseini isn't writing or tending to one of his patients, he enjoys games of no-limits Texas hold 'em poker with his brother and friends.