Khaled Hosseini Biography
Khaled Hosseini was born in 1965 in Kabul, Afghanistan, the setting of much of the action in The Kite
Runner. Hosseini and his family moved to Paris in 1976, then immigrated to the United States in 1980 as
refugees with political asylum. Hosseini's parents, a former diplomat and a teacher, settled in San Jose,California, where they subsisted on welfare until his father, working odd jobs, managed to independently support the family. Hosseini received a biology degree in 1988 from Santa Clara University and a medical degree from the University of California, San Diego in 1993. As of 2005, he is a practicing physician,specializing in internal medicine in Northern California.
Hosseini published several stories before writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, which was based on an
earlier short story of the same title. As a doctor with an active practice and many patients, Hosseini struggled
to find time to expand the story, so he wrote the novel piecemeal in the early morning hours. Hosseini
contends that treating patients made him a keen observer of people and the ways they express themselves,
both verbally and nonverbally.
In 2004, Hosseini was selected by the Young Adult Library Services Association to receive an Alex Award,
an honor given to the authors of the ten best adult books for teenagers published in the previous year. Also in
2004, he was given the Original Voices award by the Borders Group, and The Kite Runner was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
What is kite running?
Kite-running (Gudiparan Bazi) has been a favorite pastime in Afghanistan for
the last 100 years, but there are few on the streets of Kabul that can forget the
terror of living under the Taliban regime for so many years. Under Taliban rule, if
you were caught with a kite, many times you would be beaten and the spool
would be destroyed. However, since the fall of the Taliban regime, kite-running
has again resurfaced tenfold.
Kite-running is a two-person affair, with one person called the “charka gir” and
the other called the “gudiparan baz.” The charka gir is in charge of the holding
the wooden kite spool, around which the wire, or “tar” is wound. The second
person, called the “gudiparan baz” actually is in control of the movement of the
kite in the air. Kite flyers stand on tops of buildings, fighting with kites from all
over the city. The object is to strike down the kite of your opponent with the
string of your kite, after which you will be called the winner. The strings are often
made with razor wire which gives the sharpness to cut down other kites. After an
opponent’s kite is set free, it flutters away into the wind where it is usually picked
up by the local children, who fly it the next day as their own.
Kites are made of either extremely fragile tissue paper, or heavier more durable
mylar fabric. They come in many colors, shapes, and sizes. Kites range in price
depending on the size and materials used to make the kite. For a small, simple,
child sized kite, the price starts at just a few cents. For large, elaborate, colorful
kites, many with dangling adornments, the price can cost as much as [2 to 100]
Afghanis, or $2 US.
(Quoted from “Kites for Kabul: Flying for Freedom”. Available online at
http://www.kitelife.com/archives/issue45/kabul45/index.htm)
