Afghan-American authors raise awareness

Sharjah: The Afghan-American literature scene has gained momentum as a result of two authors who collaborated together to raise awareness for Afghans living abroad.

"When we compiled this book, it was a mixture from every class for Afghan women. Especially after 9/11, we wanted a vehicle that could express ourselves."

"This is adding a new perspective that has not been added before. We have the stories of Chinese-Americans and Native Americans, but not Afghan-Americans," said Sohra Saeed.

The two authors, Sohra and Sahar Muradi, gave a talk on Sunday night during the Sharjah International Book Fair, about thekir book, One Story, Thirty Stories, which was a compilation of stories from 30 Afghan authors.

Controversial

"A lot of the writers were interested, but some were a bit hesitant at first because it was a bit controversial at first and [some of their families disapproved]," she explained.

During the literary discussion, Muradi pointed out that Afghans arrived to America in the 19th century but there were no records to prove their migration. But in 1916, there was a record that future immigrants could hold on to.

The project started a decade ago, long before The Kite Runner was published, and Saeed started making her contacts through the internet.

After receiving a great deal of interest from fellow Afghan-Americans, she then decided to compile everybody's stories to make a book about the journey from Afghanistan, and to introduce the rest of the world to their culture.

"In this book, we tried to give voices context. Otherwise, you would only have stereotypes of what Afghans are and we want to break those stereotypes," said Sahar.

• What: Sharjah International Book Fair
• When: Until Saturday
• Where: Sharjah Expo Centre

Timings:

• Daily: 10am to 10pm
• Friday: 4pm to 10pm