'Kite Runner' author Khaled Hosseini: building a bridge between Afghanistan and the West
(Read article summary)'Kite Runner' author Khaled Hosseini says there are misconceptions on both sides of the relationship between Afghanistan and the West and that he is embracing his role as cultural emissary.
Some of the best authors, we think, are ambassadors, emissaries to a different place, time, body, or life, who help us, the uninitiated reader, begin to understand a largely misunderstood way of life.
Such is the case with Khaled Hosseini, author of the bestselling and widely beloved “The Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” As the first stage adaptation of “The Kite Runner” hits the UK, a film adaptation of “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Columbia Pictures is underway, and Hosseini reveals a drafted third novel, the doctor-turned author-turned UN envoy is embracing his role as a cultural emissary of sorts between Afghanistan and the West.
In a recent interview with the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Hosseini said he wanted to build a bridge between Afghans and Westerners to discourage the romanticism that can render other cultures “exotic” and therefore distant.
