My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women

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In a Nutshell: A brilliant OwnVoices anthology, narrating stories about the ordinary citizens' lives in Afghanistan.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The amount of reflecting I’ve done since finishing this book in insane, I know I am lucky enough to live a privileged life, but I really didn’t know just how bad some people’s lives could be.These are the very sparks of freedom, for there is no truer liberation that the voice within ourselves taking flight, there is no sweeter victory than our stories taking root, being remembered, cherished, and passed on. Eighteen Afghan women’s works written in their native Pashto or Dari language were translated for this deeply impactful anthology. My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird comes at a pivotal moment in Afghanistan's history, when these voices must be heard. These stories deserve to be read, not out of a sense of social responsibility, but because they are good, and because it is a tragedy that voices like these are silenced all over the world.

Thank god, I said to myself, that the sun is not someone's property, otherwise I'd have to pay rent for that as well. Beautifully written and translated, these stories are gripping, insightful, often shocking, intense and extraordinary - The Lady You may also be interested in. The short stories in this book are all very different from each other in tone, concept and also quality. Lyse spent fifteen years as a BBC foreign correspondent with postings in the Middle East, West Asia and West Africa. The stories I want to re-visit and discuss with others because they are so shocking, but also quite beautifully written and the descriptions of food and landscape paints an intriguing country that in other instances one might want to visit.

It's not one to really "race" through as I needed to think about each story and process the emotions I felt. Y, who happens to be a famous news reporter, arrived from work complaining about being stalked by a rocket: “I had just got up off a chair and hadn’t even reached the newsroom door when a rocket landed and its shrapnel hit that same chair.

The introduction and afterword have added more value to this book through which one can get an idea about the current scenario in Afghanistan and also the pain taken by the authors and other people involved with this book to complete the project.These stories demand that we not just provide long-distance witness to these women's lives, but that we we consider concrete actions that might provide meaningful change and find ways to use the power we have, even if at times we feel powerless. Each of the works in this collection is written in simple, direct prose and offers vivid snapshots of a country beset by war and violence , where misogyny is rife but women continue to dream for a better future . It is impossible to read this book and not be affected by it – I was in turn saddened, enraged and incredibly moved by these stories and needed to take breaks in between. Skausmingos, tragiškos, kai kurios viltingos istorijos apie kasdienį, pagrinde moterų, (ne)(iš)gyvenimą. Highlighted sometimes are culturally specific aspects – the anxiety around producing baby daughters when sons are revered and desired; the ramifications of husbands taking multiple wives with the blessing of society; and women just trying to go about daily life, amidst mortar attacks whilst trying to hold down a job or continue with education.