Archive - "One Book" 2005
The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini
About the Author
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965. His father was a diplomat in 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, where his father worked for the Afghan embassy. They lived in Tehran until 1973, at which point they returned to Kabul. In July of 1973, on the night Hosseini's youngest brother was born, the Afghan king, Zahir Shah, was overthrown in a bloodless coup by the king's cousin, Daoud Khan. At the time, Hosseini was in the fourth grade and was already drawn to poetry and prose; 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.
In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated Khaled's family to Paris, France, where his father was assigned a diplomatic post in the Afghan embassy. The assignment would return the Hosseini family in 1980, but by then Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody communist coup and the Soviet invasion. Khaled's family, instead, asked for and was granted political asylum in the U.S. He moved to San Jose, CA, with his family in 1980. They lived on welfare and food stamps for a short while, as they had lost all of their property in Afghanistan. His father took multiple jobs and manage
d to get his family off of welfare.
Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1998. The following year, he entered the University of California- San Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a medical degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.
He has been in practice as an internist since 1996, but his first love has always been writing. Hosseini's vivid, and found, memories of peaceful pre-Soviet era Afghanistan led partially to the writing of this novel, as well as his personal experiences with Afghan Hazaras. One Hazara man in particular was a thirty-year-old man named Hossein Khan, who 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 Khan was brief and rather formal, Hosseini always remembered the fondness that developed between them, and those memories served as an inspiration of sorts for the relationship between Amir and Hassan in The Kite Runner.
Hosseini is married, has two children (a boy and a girl, Haris and Farah). The Kite Runner is his first novel.
A Conversation With Khaled Hosseini
In his own words
About the Book
A Brief Synopsis of The Kite Runner
Adapted from http://www.penguinputnam.com
Khaled Hosseini's debut novel The Kite Runner follows a young boy, Amir, as he faces the challenges that confront him on the path to manhood — testing friendships, finding love, cheating death, accepting faults, and gaining understanding. Living in Afghanistan in the 1960s, Amir enjoys a life of privilege that is shaped by his brotherly friendship with Hassan, his servant's son. Amir lives in constant want of his father's attention, feeling that he is a failure in his father's eyes. Hassan, on the other hand, seems to be able to do no wrong. Their friendship is a complex tapestry of love, loss, privilege, and shame.
Striving to be the son his father always wanted, Amir takes on the weight of living up to unrealistic expectations and places the fate of his relationship with his father on the outcome of a kite running tournament, a popular challenge in which participants must cut down the kites of others with their own kite. Amir wins the tournament. Yet just as he begins to feel that all will be right in the world, a tragedy occurs with his friend Hassan. This moment marks a turning point in Amir's life — one whose memory he seeks to bury by moving to America. There he realizes his dream of becoming a writer and marries for love but the memory of that fateful day will prove too strong to forget. Eventually it draws Amir back to Afghanistan to right the wrongs that began that day in the alley and continued in the days, months, and years that followed.
Khaled Hosseini visits MSU
News
Kites Over East Lansing -
“The Kite Runner” Author to visit
Aug. 12, 2005
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” has been selected as the 2005 book for the annual One Book, One Community reading program co-sponsored by the City of East Lansing and Michigan State University. A series of activities centered on the book will run from Aug. 24- Sept. 30. Full Story (PDF)*
Calling All Book Groups Area Book Groups Invited to Discuss
The Kite Runner
May 26, 2005
EAST LANSING , Mich. — Book groups from the entire area are encouraged to read Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner over the summer and join with other book groups this fall for an evening of conversation and facilitated discussion around this popular book. Full Story (PDF)*
2005 Calendar of Events
All events are free and open to the general public unless otherwise noted
Wednesday, August 24; 7:00 p.m.
An Evening with Khaled Hosseini
Lecture/Book signing Kick-off event
Featuring, Khaled Hosseini, Author of "The Kite Runner"
East Lansing Hannah Community Center
Thursday, August 25; 9:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.
University Welcome for Incoming MSU Students
Jack Breslin Student Event Center, MSU Campus
Friday, September 9; 7:00 p.m.
MSU Libraries' Friday Night Film Series: Kandahar
MSU Main Library, W449
Library Exhibit - "Afghanistan: Crossroads of Conflicts and Cultures" (PDF)
Film showing of Kandahar, with a discussion led by Dr. Norman Graham of James Madison College. Kandahar is the story of a young female journalist who escaped Afghanistan, but must return to save her sister.
More information about the movie
Monday, September 12 & Monday September 19; 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Keeping Secrets: Writing the Private Reason
East Lansing Public Library, Community Room
Dr. Anita Skeen of MSU's College of Arts and Letters will lead a writing workshop which will allow participants to explore how literature can and has been developed around secrets, and how our own secrets can shape our writing. This workshop is open to writers in all genres and at all levels, particularly those who like to work with a specific exercise or assignment.
Registration is required as there is limited capacity.
Call The East Lansing Public Library at 351-2420 to register for this session.
September 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23
Kite Making in East Lansing Schools
Gordon Negen of the Mackinac Kite Company will teach East Lansing elementary school children the art and history of kite making.
Wednesday, September 14; 5:00-7:00 p.m.
"The Kite Runner" Special Theme dinner
Yakeley Hall Cafeteria, MSU Campus
Thursday, September 15; 4:00 -7:00 p.m.
"The Kite Runner" Special Theme dinner
Holmes Hall cafeteria, MSU campus
Thursday, September 15; 7 – 8:30 p.m.
An Evening With The Kite Runner
East Lansing Hannah Community Center
Banquet Room, 819 Abbott
Book groups and individuals from throughout the region are invited to join others for facilitated discussion of the themes, characters and other dimensions of this book. Call the East Lansing Public Library at 351-2420 to register your group or send an e-mail.
Sunday, September 18, 2005 ; 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Inside Islam: A Cultural Fair
The Islamic Center of East Lansing, 920 S. Harrison, East Lansing
Cultural fair featuring exhibits explaining Islam, and Muslim culture and daily life. Featuring food, art, entertainment and other examples of a culture that unites one fifth of the world today.
Friday, September 23; 5:00 p.m.
“The Sky's The Limit”
MSU campus, Munn Field (just south of Munn Ice Arena and in between Breslin Center and the Stadium). View Campus map
Family Fun Fest for all ages featuring kite flying, games, prizes and food. At 6 p.m. there will be a special demonstration of kite fighting as described in The Kite Runner
Friday, Sept. 23, Sat. Sept. 24, Sunday, Sept. 25; 7:10 p.m. & 9:20 p.m.
RHA Movie: Osama
Wells Hall, MSU Campus (free for residence hall students, $2.00 for other students and non-students)
Osama is the story of an Afghan mother who disguises her daughter as a boy in order to survive and escape the Taliban. More information about the movie.
Thursday, September 29; 7:00 p.m.
“One Book” Finale: "An Afghani Girl on the Other Side of the Sky"
Barnes & Noble, 333 East Grand River ;downstairs library
Parking will be validated
Farah Ahmedi, a young woman whose submission to the "Good Morning, America" nationwide essay contest was turned into a book, will speak to the community and announce the winners of the Barnes & Noble essay contest. Winning essays will be read if the participant desires. Refreshments will be served
Friday, September 30; 9:00 a.m.
High School Students hear from Farah Ahmedi
East Lansing High School
Farah Ahmedi, author of "The Story of my Life: An Afghani Girl on the Other Side of th
Photo Gallery for 2005 Program
Flea Market in San Jose, California