Khaled Hosseini, also spelled Khalid Husseini, is an Afghan and American author, a special representative for the UNHCR, and a former doctor. His first book, The Kite Runner (2003), was very successful and well-received. All of his books are set in Afghanistan and feature an Afghan main character. His stories have helped people learn more about the lives and culture of Afghans.

Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, to a father who worked as a diplomat. After his birth, he briefly lived in Iran and France. When he was 15 years old, his family asked for protection in the United States. Later, he became a citizen of the United States. He did not return to Afghanistan until 2003, when he was 38 years old. This experience was similar to the journey of the main character in The Kite Runner. In later interviews, Hosseini said he felt guilty for leaving Afghanistan before the Soviet invasion and the wars that followed.

After finishing college, Hosseini worked as a doctor in California. He compared this job to an arranged marriage. After The Kite Runner became successful, he was able to stop working as a doctor to write full-time. His three books have all been successful. The Kite Runner was on The New York Times Best Seller list for 101 weeks, including three weeks at number one. His second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007), was on the list for 103 weeks, including 15 weeks at number one. His third book, And the Mountains Echoed (2013), stayed on the list for 33 weeks. In addition to writing, Hosseini has worked to help refugees. He helped create the Khaled Hosseini Foundation with the UNHCR to support Afghan refugees returning to Afghanistan.

Early life and education

Khaled Hosseini was born on March 4, 1965, in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was the oldest of five children. His father, Nasser, worked as a diplomat for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul. His mother was a teacher of the Persian language at a girls’ high school. Both of his parents are from Herat. Hosseini said, “I’m not pure anything. There’s a Pashtun part of me, a Tajik part of me.” His mother’s family is believed to be from the Mohammadzai tribe of Pashtuns. Hosseini described his childhood as privileged. He lived for eight years in the wealthy Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in Kabul. He does not remember his sister, Raya, ever being treated unfairly because she was a girl. He remembers Kabul as a growing, busy, and diverse city, where he often flew kites with his cousins.

In 1970, Hosseini and his family moved to Iran. His father worked at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Tehran. In 1973, the family returned to Kabul, and his youngest brother was born that year. In 1976, when Hosseini was 11 years old, his father got a job in Paris, France, and moved the family there. They could not return to Afghanistan because of the April 1978 Saur Revolution, when the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) took control of the government. In 1980, after the Soviet–Afghan War began, the family sought political asylum in the United States and settled in San Jose, California. When Hosseini first arrived in the United States, he was 15 years old and did not speak English. He described the experience as “a culture shock” and “very alienating.”

Although the family was far from the conflict in Afghanistan, they learned about the difficult situations faced by friends and relatives. Hosseini explained:

“We had many family and friends in Kabul. The communist takeover in 1978 was very violent. Many people were arrested, executed, or disappeared. Anyone connected to the previous government or royal family was punished. We heard stories about friends and relatives who were in prison or had vanished without explanation. My wife’s uncle was a famous singer in Kabul who openly criticized the communists. He disappeared, and we still do not know what happened to him. We heard stories about mass executions and terrible events in Europe. It was strange and very difficult to understand.”

Hosseini graduated from Independence High School in San Jose in 1984. He then attended Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1988. The next year, he entered the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, where he graduated with an M.D. in 1993. In 1997, he completed his internal medicine residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles. For more than ten years after the publication of The Kite Runner, he practiced medicine.

Career

In 2003, Khaled Hosseini published his first novel, The Kite Runner. The story follows a young boy named Amir as he tries to build a closer relationship with his father and deals with painful memories from his childhood. The novel is set in Afghanistan during the fall of the monarchy and the collapse of the Taliban regime, as well as in Fremont, California, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. According to Nielsen BookScan, The Kite Runner was the best-selling novel in the United States in 2005. The author also read the audio version of the book. A film version of the novel, titled The Kite Runner, was released in December 2007. Hosseini made a brief appearance in the movie as a bystander when Amir buys and flies a kite with Sohrab.

Afghanistan is the setting for Hosseini’s second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which was published in 2007. The story explores similar themes as The Kite Runner, but it focuses on the experiences of women. It follows two women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become connected after Mariam’s husband marries Laila. The novel is set during Afghanistan’s difficult 30-year period, from Soviet occupation to Taliban rule and the rebuilding of the country after the Taliban. The book was released by Riverhead Books on May 22, 2007, at the same time as the audiobook by Simon & Schuster. Later, the film rights to the novel were purchased by producer Scott Rudin and Columbia Pictures.

Hosseini’s third novel, And the Mountains Echoed, was published on May 21, 2013. Before its release, Hosseini said, “Family is a central theme in my writing. My earlier books focused on fatherhood and motherhood. My new novel is also a family story, but it follows brothers and sisters and how they love, hurt, betray, honor, and sacrifice for each other.”

Today, Hosseini works as a Goodwill Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He helps deliver humanitarian aid in Afghanistan through the Khaled Hosseini Foundation. The idea for the foundation came from a 2007 trip to Afghanistan with UNHCR, during which the organization raised money to build homes for refugees returning to the country.

In 2018, Hosseini released an illustrated short story titled Sea Prayer. The story was inspired by the death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, a Syrian refugee who drowned while trying to reach Europe. Sales of Sea Prayer supported the UNHCR and the Khaled Hosseini Foundation.

Influences

As a child, Hosseini read many Persian poems, including works by poets like Rumi, Omar Khayyám, Abdul-Qādir Bēdil, and Hafez. He also mentioned that a Persian translation of Jack London's White Fang was an important influence during his youth, along with translations of books such as Alice in Wonderland and the Mike Hammer series by Mickey Spillane. He named Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir as a major musical influence. During an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live, Hosseini chose the songs "Madar" and "Aye Padesha Khuban" as his "Inheritance Tracks." He called Zahir "the Afghan Elvis" and said that Zahir's music was "one of the seminal memories of my time in Afghanistan."

Personal life

Khaled Hosseini is married to Roya, and they have two children. The family lives in Northern California. He speaks Persian and Pashto well and describes himself as a secular Muslim. In July 2022, Hosseini shared on social media that his 21-year-old child is transgender.

Awards and honors

In 2008, Hosseini received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.

In 2014, Hosseini received the John Steinbeck Award from the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.