
My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird
New Fiction by Afghan Women
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Narrated by:
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Sitara Attaie
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By:
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18 Afghan Women
About this listen
A landmark collection: the first anthology of short fiction by Afghan women that are "powerful, profound, and deeply moving" (Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees, a Reese's Book Club pick)
"My pen is the wing of a bird; it will tell you those thoughts we are not allowed to think, those dreams we are not allowed to dream."
Eighteen Afghan women living in, speaking about, and writing from the country itself tell stories that are powerful and illuminating, unique and universal—stories of family, work, childhood, friendship, war, gender identity, and cultural traditions.
A woman's fortitude saves her village from disaster. A teenager explores their identity in a moment of quiet. A tormented girl tries to find love through a horrific act. A headmaster makes his way to work, treading the fine line between life and death.
These and more original, vital, and unexpected stories hail from extraordinary voices rooted in Afghanistan's two main linguistic groups (Pashto and Dari), and were developed over two years through the writer development program Untold's Write Aghanistan Project. My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird comes at a pivotal moment in Afghanistan's history, when these voices must be heard.
With an Introduction by Lyse Doucet, BBC chief international correspondant, and Afterword by Lucy Hannah, Founder and Director of Untold
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As an Afghan girl, Zarifa Adiba has big, unfathomable dreams. Her family is poor, her country mired in conflict. Walking to school in Kabul, Zarifa has to navigate suicide bombers. But Zarifa perseveres, nurturing her passion for music despite its “sinful” nature under Taliban law. At sixteen, she gains admission to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, and at eighteen she becomes the lead violist, conductor, and spokesperson for Zohra, the first all-female orchestra in the Muslim world.
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Wonderful!
- By Heidi R. on 05-14-24
By: Zarifa Adiba, and others
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My Friends
- A Novel
- By: Hisham Matar
- Narrated by: Hisham Matar
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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One evening, as a young boy growing up in Benghazi, Khaled hears a bizarre short story read aloud on the radio, about a man being eaten alive by a cat, and has the sense that his life has been changed forever. Obsessed by the power of those words—and by their enigmatic author, Hosam Zowa—Khaled eventually embarks on a journey that will take him far from home, to pursue a life of the mind at the University of Edinburgh.
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Beautifully written
- By Anonymous User on 06-24-24
By: Hisham Matar
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Love Marriage
- A Novel
- By: Monica Ali
- Narrated by: Ayesha Dharker
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Yasmin Ghorami is 26, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose formidable mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. The gulf between families is vast. So, too, is the gulf in sexual experience between Yasmin and Joe. As the wedding day draws near, misunderstandings, infidelities, and long-held secrets upend both Yasmin’s relationship and that of her parents, a “love marriage”, according to the family lore that Yasmin has believed all her life.
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I loved everything about this book!
- By I used to fly on 05-21-22
By: Monica Ali
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Jameela Green Ruins Everything
- By: Zarqa Nawaz
- Narrated by: Aizzah Fatima
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Jameela Green only has one wish. To see her memoir on the New York Times bestseller list. When her dream doesn’t come true, she seeks spiritual guidance at her local mosque. New imam and recent immigrant Ibrahim Sultan is appalled by Jameela’s shallowness, but agrees to assist her on one condition: that she perform a good deed.
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An intelligent and whacky satire
- By materialist on 01-03-23
By: Zarqa Nawaz
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These Impossible Things
- A Novel
- By: Salma El-Wardany
- Narrated by: Shazia Nicholls
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s always been Malak, Kees, and Jenna against the world. Since childhood, under the watchful eyes of their parents, aunties and uncles, they’ve learned to live their own lives alongside the expectations of being good Muslim women. Staying over at a boyfriend's place is disguised as a best friend’s sleepover, and tiredness can be blamed on studying instead of partying. With growing older and the stakes of love and life growing higher, the delicate balancing act between rebellion and religion is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.
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Wonderfully written, beautiful piece
- By Paige on 11-19-24
By: Salma El-Wardany
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The Bad Muslim Discount
- A Novel
- By: Syed M. Masood
- Narrated by: Pej Vahdat, Hend Ayoub
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalism takes root within the social order and the zealots next door attempt to make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. Ironically, Anvar's deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his fun-loving father can't find anyone he relates to. For his part, Anvar fully commits to being a bad Muslim.
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A great well developed story.
- By SBB on 02-11-21
By: Syed M. Masood
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A Golden Age
- A Novel
- By: Tahmima Anam
- Narrated by: Madhur Jaffrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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As young widow Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she might be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming, her children are almost grown, and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air.
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sad, poignant, thought-provoking, beautiful
- By Rio Delta Wild on 06-04-08
By: Tahmima Anam
What listeners say about My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- just asking for some common sense
- 08-19-24
Extraordinary collection of stories
This book isn't long, and I thought it would take two days to finish it. But it had a profound impact on me and I needed to savor the stories so I took four days. I won't ever forget these stories.
Most take part totally in Afghanistan, spread out over years. They speak of struggles like poverty and war. Many have female main characters who face struggles because they are female in a patriarchal society.
While there is sadness, frustration, and grief in abundance, there is also some hope. There is some hope simply because these stories have made it into print. Thank you to the authors and all who worked to make this a reality. The narration is excellent. It took a story or two to get used to the accent, but I never had trouble understanding her.
I highly recommend this book.
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Overall
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- Charlie Woodside
- 10-21-22
Absolutely outstanding
These stories are ones I feel like everyone needs to read. The person who narrates took stories that I would have just been like “aw that’s sad” to crying my eyes out, her performance is spectacular.
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1 person found this helpful