Books by Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini Biography & Notes
Khaled Hosseini (born March 4, 1965) is an Afghan-American author and physician.
Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and history at a large high school in Kabul. In 1970, the Foreign Ministry sent his family to Tehran, Iran, where his father worked for the Afghan embassy. In 1973 they returned to Kabul. In July 1973, on the night Hosseini's youngest brother was born, the Afghan king, Zahir Shah, was overthrown in a bloodless coup d'etat by the king's cousin, Mohammed Daoud Khan.
In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry once again relocated the Hosseini family, this time to Paris, France. In 1980, they were scheduled to return to Kabul, but by then Afghanistan had undergone a bloody communist coup and then the invasion of the Soviet army. Wary of the impact of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Hosseini's family sought and were granted political asylum in the United States, and in September 1980, they moved to San Jose, California. Because they had lost all of their property in Afghanistan, they lived on welfare and food stamps for a short while. His father took multiple jobs and managed to get his family off welfare.
Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree in 1993. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1996. He continues to practice medicine.
Influences
When Hosseini was a child, he read a great deal of Persian poetry, as well as Farsi translations of novels ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer series. Hosseini's memories of peaceful pre-Soviet era Afghanistan, as well as his personal experiences with Afghan Hazaras, led to the writing of his first novel, The Kite Runner. One Hazara man, named Hossein Khan, worked for the Hosseinis when they were living in Iran. When Hosseini was in third grade, he taught Khan to read and write. Though his relationship with Hossein Khan was brief and rather formal, Hosseini's fond memories of this relationship served as an inspiration for the relationship between Amir and Hassan in The Kite Runner.
Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and history at a large high school in Kabul. In 1970, the Foreign Ministry sent his family to Tehran, Iran, where his father worked for the Afghan embassy. In 1973 they returned to Kabul. In July 1973, on the night Hosseini's youngest brother was born, the Afghan king, Zahir Shah, was overthrown in a bloodless coup d'etat by the king's cousin, Mohammed Daoud Khan.
In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry once again relocated the Hosseini family, this time to Paris, France. In 1980, they were scheduled to return to Kabul, but by then Afghanistan had undergone a bloody communist coup and then the invasion of the Soviet army. Wary of the impact of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Hosseini's family sought and were granted political asylum in the United States, and in September 1980, they moved to San Jose, California. Because they had lost all of their property in Afghanistan, they lived on welfare and food stamps for a short while. His father took multiple jobs and managed to get his family off welfare.
Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree in 1993. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1996. He continues to practice medicine.
Influences
When Hosseini was a child, he read a great deal of Persian poetry, as well as Farsi translations of novels ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer series. Hosseini's memories of peaceful pre-Soviet era Afghanistan, as well as his personal experiences with Afghan Hazaras, led to the writing of his first novel, The Kite Runner. One Hazara man, named Hossein Khan, worked for the Hosseinis when they were living in Iran. When Hosseini was in third grade, he taught Khan to read and write. Though his relationship with Hossein Khan was brief and rather formal, Hosseini's fond memories of this relationship served as an inspiration for the relationship between Amir and Hassan in The Kite Runner.
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Bookclub-in-a-box Discusses the Novel the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ( 2006) |
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Cometas en el Cielo/ The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ( 2004) |
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Cometas en el Cielo/ The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ( 2007) |
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The Kite Runner A Portrait of the Marc Forster Film by Khaled Hosseini, Marc Forster ( 2008) |
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The Kite Runner A Portrait of the Marc Forster Film by David Benioff ( 2008) |
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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ( 2004)
Traces the unlikely friendship of Amir, a wealthy Afghanistani youth, and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of the nation's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.
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Silent Exodus Portraits of Iraqi Efugees in Exile by Khalid Hosseini ( 2008) |
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Stones into Schools Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson ( 2009)
When he built his first school in Korphe, Pakistan, Greg Mortenson was a single man driven by a promise he had made to the villagers who had nursed him back to health after a failed attempt to climb K2. By 2009, Mortenson and his foundation, the Central Asia Institute, have established more than 130 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, most built especially for girls. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and achieved celebrity status in the world of philanthropy on the strength of his mega-bestselling book about his endeavors, THREE CUPS OF TEA. Hoping to add to the momentum of his benevolent campaign, Mortenson details his continuing struggle to fight oppression, prejudice and fundamentalist doctrine by offering young Muslim women something many of them have never had access to--an education. Mortenson reveals that he has been repeatedly threatened with violence by both Muslims and Americans who disagree with his cause, and he details a harrowing eight days he spent being held captive by armed assailants in Pakistan. More memorably, he provides stirring examples of how tolerance can diffuse aggression by sharing a few of the success stories from the more than 50,000 students he has helped to educate.
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A Thousand Splended Suns Shelftalker by Khaled Hosseini ( 2007) |
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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini ( 2008)
Khaled Hosseini's bestselling debut novel THE KITE RUNNER told of the bond and betrayal that linked two young Afghani boys, and showed how their personal and political history affected their lives and the lives of their children. In his second novel A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS Hosseini shows the tenuous alliance made between two Afghan women who are both married to the same brutal older man. Miriam, an illegitimate daughter, is 15 when she is married to Rasheed. Years later he takes another wife, the orphaned 14-year old Laila. Together, the two women, subjugated by culture and circumstance, must find a way to survive and protect that most-precious of commodities: hope.
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