Afghan Stories

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
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Original Air Date: 
June 23, 2013

After 13 years of war, the US will leave Afghanistan next year.   There will be many conversations about the country’s political and military future.  But we’re taking a different look at Afghanistan - through the lens of Afghan fiction: films, poetry and folk tales, and an interview with “The Kite Runner" author Khaled Hosseini on his new book. 

Khaled Hosseini on "And the Mountains Echoed"

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
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Khaled Hosseini's novel “The Kite Runner” put Afghan fiction on the map.  Hosseini's new book is “And the Mountains Echoed.”

Generations of Afghan women sharing the landay

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Afghan women are complicated. They pray, have affairs, and get mad at their children. But it seems one thing binds them — the landay. Poet and journalist Eliza Griswold went to Afghanistan in 2012 learn more about a type of poem that Afghan women have been sharing since 1700 BCE.

Length: 
10:02

Najaf Mazari on "The Honey Thief"

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For millennia the Hazara people have been telling folk tales. Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillman have collected them in a book called “The Honey Thief.”

Sam French on his film "Buzkashi Boys"

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“Buzkashi Boys” was one of the film shorts nominated for an Oscar this year. This is a coming of age story set in Afghanistan’s national sport, Buzkashi. It's a game of horse polo played with a dead goat instead of a ball.

Extras

Background Music:

  • "Transatlanticism" by Death Cab for Cutie
  • "Ingenue" by Atoms for Peace
  • "Tamer Animal/Other Side" by Atoms for Peace
Show Details 📻
Airdates
June 23, 2013
Guests: 

Khaled Hosseini

Author

Anna Badkhen

Writer
annabadkhen.com

Eliza Griswold

Poet and Journalist
poetryfoundation.org
newyorker.com

Sam French

Director
Categories: 
Politics and History
Last modified: 
August 02, 2024