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Author of ‘Bookseller of Kabul’ to discuss Afghan life

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News staff

“The most intimate description of an Afghan household ever produced by a Western Journalist” – that’s how the New York Times Book Review described author Asne Seierstad’s “The Bookseller of Kabul.”

Seierstad will talk about that book from 4 to 6 p.m. April 27 during a lecture co-hosted by Rice’s Department of Sociology and Center for the Study of Women and Gender and the Houston World Affairs Council.

Originally published in 2003, “The Bookseller of Kabul” portrays life in Afghanistan just after the fall of the Taliban. A bookseller who saw his books censored, ripped apart and even burned in the street by the Communists and the Taliban during his 30 years in the trade allowed journalist Seierstad to move into his home and experience firsthand his family’s life in the newly liberated capital city of Kabul.

The author takes a close look at the bookseller — a committed Muslim with strict views on the role of women — and his two wives, five children, and other relatives who live together in four small rooms. Among the experiences conveyed are a teenage boy’s first religious pilgrimage, a daughter’s search for a job as a way to escape her family’s restrictions and a mother’s agony as her role in the family is taken over by her husband’s second bride.

Seierstad’s “closely observed, affecting account of the family’s daily life, and especially of the virtual slavery its females endure, suggests that change will come slowly if at all to Afghanistan,” The Washington Post wrote in its book review.

An international best-seller, including a New York Times best-seller, “The Bookseller of Kabul” has been translated into at least 14 languages.

Seierstad, who currently lives in Norway, will sign copies of her book after her lecture, which will be held in Herzstein Amphitheater in Herzstein Hall. The event will conclude with a reception, courtesy of the Norwegian Consulate General.