My dear Kabul

£20.00

In August 2021 a women’s creative writing group in Afghanistan shared news of political turmoil and the Fall of Kabul. These women were in the process of publishing a short-story collection when their world was turned upside down by the Taliban. In staying connected via WhatsApp messages, they established a lifeline; a vital space to keep their creativity alive, support each other and bear witness to the events unfolding around them. ‘My Dear Kabul’ is their story, and a collective diary of a year living under the Taliban.

In stock

Publish Date: 15/08/2024
ISBN: 9781399727983 Category: Tag:

Description

The incredible and courageous collective diary of an Afghan women’s writing group during the Fall of Kabul in August 2021



‘An intimate, courageous chronicle of life as it unfolds under Taliban rule’

OBSERVER, *Book of the Day*

‘A hugely important book’

BERNARDINE EVARISTO

‘A deeply moving collective memoir’
LYSE DOUCET

In August 2021, as the Taliban approached the gates of Kabul, twenty-one women writers in Afghanistan came online in their WhatsApp chat group: they asked what news others had heard and if everyone was safe.

These women had been brought together as a writing group. They were about to publish their first collection of short stories, while working regular day jobs. Some were students, some newly married, one was a grandmother: all were afraid of what was now to come. Over the next year, in the makeshift refuge of their WhatsApp group, they shared the day-to-day reality of life after a fall.

Publishing on the anniversary of the Fall of Kabul, this is the women’s courageous collective diary: in it the writers watch cities transform, schools close, families change and freedoms disappear. They share stories of chaos, protest and flight – and of life continuing. Check-points are a daily trial; men start behaving differently. Children can’t afford the ice-cream man’s wares; passports are near impossible to obtain. Together, their messages form a powerful chorus of resistance and solidarity.

‘Its courage is momentous’
ALI SMITH

Additional information

Weight 480 g
Dimensions 220 × 148 × 36 mm
Author
Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

320

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

958.146048 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K