Short stories: new fiction by Afghan Women – AFGHANISTAN

8th March 2022

My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women – Afghanistan.

In the introduction, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent (Lyse Doucet, currently reporting from Ukraine) says of this collection of stories that they “...take us into the small but ever so significant minutiae of daily life”. Through tiny observations we, as readers, can identify with the plight of so many women in Afghanistan, whose daily lives are like our own, yet so significantly different in many – and oftentimes – terrible ways. These stories, sometimes just through their simplicity, cause the reader to reflect and even recoil; but this is real life for so many.

There are various translators to credit for bringing these authors’ tales to a whole new readership, making the voice of Afghan women accessible. The authors originally wrote their stories in one of two languages – Pashto and Dari. Various aspects of culture and daily living conditions meld together in each narrative. The stories are of family, betrayal, friendship and love, many set against a back drop of real life events.

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.

Running through several stories is a sense of loneliness, how a war situation adds another dimension to endemic volatility under Taliban rule, it really affects individuals. How solace can be found in pets and animal connections, and how disappearing into imagination is a relief from the world around.

There are visceral scenes and descriptions that are rich in the sights, sounds and smells of the country… the clay walls that emanate a specific feel, and the rich fragrances of cooking and herbs waft off the page.

We know that many nations have got involved in the country over the years and now – after many of these stories had actually been penned – the country was left summarily in late Summer 2021 to its own devices. Women once again have been forced to remain absent from mainstream life, stripped of their hard won rights, which is such a depressingly regressive step for so many.

At the end of this collection, in the Afterword by Lucy Hannah, it is explicit that these stories for now cannot be published in Afghanistan, it is too dangerous. Stories help make sense of the world and so the authors featured here continue to write. Some are still in Afghanistan, others have managed to flee. Afghanistan, says Hannah, has never been heard or understood, so giving women the opportunity to bring their stories into a wider world continues to be essential.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

This collection introduces extraordinary voices from the country’s two main linguistic groups (Pashto and Dari) with original, vital and unexpected stories to tell, developed over two years through UNTOLD’s Write Afghanistan project. My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird comes at a pivotal moment in Afghanistan’s history, when these voices must be heard. UNTOLD is a writer development programme for marginalised writers in areas of conflict and post-conflict.

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