Author: Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini, is another favourite author of mine. His books take us in to a country and culture we only know from the news. To us it’s a war-torn country which has seen many a war and unrest.

Basic Facts:

Born: 4 March 1965
Place of Birth: Kabul in the Kingdom of Afghanistan (Modern Day Afghanistan)
Name: Khaled Hosseini
Married: Roya Hosseini
Children: 2
Citizenship: United States

Khaled is the eldest of 5 children. His father moved the family to Iran in 1970, where his father worked for the Embassy of Afghanistan in Tehran. A few years later they returned to Afghanistan. In 1976 when Khaled was 11 years old his father managed to get a job in Paris, France. Unfortunately the family never returned and sought political asylum in the United Stated. Where he later became a citizen.

When the family first arrived in the United Stated Khaled didn’t speak English and he described this experience as “a culture shock” and “very alienating”.

In 2001 aged 36 Khaled returned to Afghanistan and was quoted in an interview “Felt like a tourist in (his) own country”. He also admitted to sometimes feeling survivors guilt for having been able to leave the country before the American Invasion and subsequent wars.

Education:

Khaled graduated in 1984 from Independence High School on San Jose. In 1988 her earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Santa Clara University. The following year he started at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, where in 1993 he ended up earning his MD.

In 1997 he completed his residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles.

Career Before Writing:

Khaled practised medicine for over 10 years, but only continued to practise for one and a half more years after he released his first novel “The Kite Runner” when he left medicine for good.

Influences:

Khaled read a lot of Persian poetry as a child especially the poems of Sufis such as Rumi, Hafez, Omar Khayyam, Abdul-Qadir Bedil and others.

He also cites a Persian translation of Jack London’s White Fang which was a key influence on his youthful imagination. He also had Persian translations of novels ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Mickey Spillan’s Mike Hammer Series.

Khaled has very fond memories of his childhood in a peaceful Pre-Soviet era Afghanistan. As well as his personal experiences with Afghanistan’s Hazara People, which led to the writing of his first novel “The Kite Runner”.

Works:

The Kite Runner, Published 2003
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Published 2007
And the Mountains Echoed, Published 2013
Sea Prayer, Published 2018

Films Based on His Novels:

The Kite Runner, Release Date: 14 December 2007. I didn’t know but Khaled Hosseini has a cameo appearance towards the end of the movie as a bystander when Amir buys a kite which he later flies with Sohrab

Websites of Interest:

Khaled Hosseini Official Website Twitter Instagram Facebook
Khaled Hosseini Goodreads
The Khaled Hosseini Foundation
Sufis Wikipedia Link

Again I’ve enjoyed looking in to another of my favourite authors life, as more than not we only read their books and actually know nothing about them. I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did during my research.