Press

Live from the Amnesty Amplify Festival

The Guilty Feminist

Parwana Fayyaz, Afghan poet, scholar, author of Forty Names (Carcanet Press, 2021), co-editor and co-translator of My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024), joined The Guilty Feminist live podcast recording at the Amplify Human Rights Festival.

Listen now…

My Dear Kabul: The shared pain of women writers in Afghanistan

Zan Times

One of 21 My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) writers, Freshta, shares her experience of working with Untold Narratives during the fall of Kabul in 2021.

Available to read in English and Dari.

Read now…

Meet the Afghan women writers who witnessed the fall of Kabul

Monocle Radio

Georgina Godwin speaks to Untold director, Lucy Hannah, and co-editor, Sunila Galappatti, about the process of recording the diary entries. One of the writers also describes what life is like in Kabul today.

Listen now…

Portholes: Preview

WritersMosaic

Sunila Galappatti talks to Colin Grant about ‘Portholes’, her forthcoming WritersMosaic guest edition, featuring five writers from Afghanistan who share days from their journals of exile. 

Listen now..

“…despairing, hopeful, fascinatingly detailed and fiercely brave”

The Guardian

Authors, critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read in September 2024. Author Lissa Evans chose My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) after reading My Pen Is The Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022) last year.


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Top 10 books to read this fall

The Markaz Review

My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) featured in the The Markaz Review list of 10 must-read titles for this fall.


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The Afghan women writers who bore witness to the fall of Kabul

Himal Southasia Review of Books

Marie, among the 21 contributors to My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024), and two of the book’s editors Parwana Fayyaz and Sunila Galappatti, speak with host Shwetha Srikanthan on the Himal Southasian Podcast.

Listen now…

“These writings in translation honour the individuality of Afghan women and their voices”

Himal Southasia Review of Books

My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) featured in Southasia Review of Books as part of Women in Translation Month. Himal Southasian is Southasia’s first and only regional magazine of politics and culture. 

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Afghan women writers ‘want their voices heard’

BBC Cambridgeshire

My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) translator Parwana Fayyaz was interviewed by BBC Cambridgeshire’s Louise Hulland on 5 September 2024.

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Newshour

BBC Radio 4

On 18 August 2024, My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) writer Batool Haidari and translator Parwana Fayyaz, were interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Newshour.

Today 

BBC Radio 4

On 17 August 2024, My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) writer Batool Haidari and translator Parwana Fayyaz, along with Untold’s director Lucy Hannah, appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The realities of life under Taliban rule, as told by the women of Afghanistan

Service95

Service95 is a global editorial platform founded by Dua Lipa. In this exclusive extract from My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024), all the women are writing from the city of Kabul as the Taliban advance and take control of the city. 

Three years ago this month America withdrew from Afghanistan

The Economist

The Economist reviewed My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) alongisde War & Peace & War (Ihtaka Press, 2024) by Andrew North and Twenty Years (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2024) by Sune Rasmussen.

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The Afghan women who won’t be silenced

The Observer & The Guardian

My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) was Book of the Day in The Guardian and was reviewed in the Observer by Hephzibah Anderson

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Exploring the contradictions of a state in A Fistful of Moonlight

Purple Pencil Project

Writer Priyadarshini Gauri reviewed A Fistful of Moonlight (MacLehose Press UK & BEE Books, India, 2023) for Purple Pencil Project, a venture aimed to bring the spotlight on Indian literature.

Read now…

August reads: My Dear Kabul

The Bookseller

Natasha Omwuemezi featured My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) in her Discover: August reads in The Bookseller print edition on 5 July 2024. My Dear Kabul was also listed online in Caroline Sanderson’s non-fiction previews for August 2024.

 

Excerpt from My Pen Is The Wing Of A Bird

Service95

Service95 is a global editorial platform founded by Dua Lipa. Issue 102 was inspired by Dua’s Monthly Read for February 2024, A Thousand Splendid Suns (Riverhead Books, 2007). Titled Women In Resistance, it was dedicated to incredible Afghan women. The platform featured an excerpt by Batool Haidari from My Pen Is The Wing Of A Bird: New Fiction By Afghan Women (MacLehose Press, 2022).
 
 

“Sharing their true stories”

The Week Junior

In the January 2024 issue of children’s newspaper The Week Junior, Batool Haidari, one of the contributors to Rising After the Fall (Scholastic, 2023) is interviewed for The Week Junior’s Book Club. 
 

Subscribe to The Week…

“Breaking stereotypes that their country is only about war…”

The Markaz Review

On 3 December 2023, the The Markaz Review published an article by Untold’s Paranda project manager Lillie Razvi, telling the story of how the programme has developed since it was established in 2019.
 

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“Remarkable women … and remarkable conversations”

BBC Radio 5

On 27 November 2023, Untold writer Marie Bamyani and co-editors Zarghuna Kargar and Lucy Hannah spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Naga Munchetty about the women writers of Paranda and the story behind Rising After the Fall: Afghan Women Share Their Stories (Scholastic, 2023).
 

Listen at 40.55…

“An important initiative to promote these otherwise less heard voices”

Handelsblatt, Germany

Untold’s partner KfW Stiftung was awarded the Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft – German Cultural Sponsorship Prize 2022/2023.  This article in Handelsblatt describes Untold’s work in collaboration with Weiter Schreiben in Germany.
 

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“Moving, profound and memorable”         

Buzzfeed, US

Ahead of the US publication of My Pen Is The Wing of A Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022) on 18 October 2022, Buzzfeed featured the anthology on its Best Releases in October.
 

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“[These] stories form a remarkable portrait of lives largely invisible to readers outside Afghanistan. This brims with humanity.”         

Publishers Weekly, US

My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022) featured in Publishers Weekly, a US weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents.

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“This intense collection does inspire hope that Afghan women and girls will persevere” 

NPR, US

NPR’s Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reviewed My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose, 2022) alongisde We Are Still Here: Afghan Women on Courage, Freedom and the Fight to Be Heard (Penguin Canada, 2022). 

Read now…

How we live now: Afghanistan’s women speak 

The Financial Times

Extracts from a collective diary that later became My Dear Kabul (Coronet, 2024) were published by The Financial Times to mark the anniversary of the fall of Kabul. 

Read now… 

“A hugely ambitious project” 

The Guardian

My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022) featured in a review by Lucy Knight, commissioning editor for books at The Guardian

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“These stories […] reiterate how much Afghan women could again say and do, if only they were allowed to.” 

The Economist

My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022) was reviewed by The Economist.

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“Vivid snapshots of a country beset by war and violence, where misogyny is rife but women continue to dream of a better future.” 

The Financial Times

Lucy Popescu, editor and writer, reviewed My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022) for The Financial Times. 

Read now…

“A revolutionary collection of short stories from Afghanistan sees women writers take back their creative power”

BBC Radio 4 

Elizabeth Day, novelist and journalist, spoke to Lucy Hannah, director at Untold Narratives, about My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022), Untold’s new collection of fiction from Afghan women writers, for BBC Open Book. 

Listen at 13.53…

“An authentic and arresting collection of tales that are unlike any you may have read before” 

Whistles

An interview with Untold Narratives director Lucy Hannah and Untold’s translator Zarghuna Kargar and an excerpt from Daughter Number Eight, a short story by Freshta, were featured by Whistles.

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“An extraordinary project” 

Monocle Radio

Georgina Godwin, broadcaster at Monocle Radio, sits down with Lucy Hannah, Untold Narratives director, and Shekiba Habib, translator and journalist with the BBC Afghan service, to discuss My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022).

Listen now...

The Afghan women writing for freedom 

Intelligence Squared

On 18 May 2022, Lucy Hannah, Untold Narratives director, Zarghuna Kargaar, Untold’s translator and Marie, writer, spoke to Intelligence Squared about My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022).

Listen at 32:00…

“My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird [is] little short of a miracle”

 The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

Book critics Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll reviewed My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose, 2022) for The Sydney Morning Herald.  

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“This book is a powerful reminder […] that everyone has a story and every story matters.” 

Mint Lounge, India

Writer Shreemayee Das reviewed My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose, 2022) for Mint Lounge, a weekend magazine.

Read now…

“Centring the experiences of Afghan women and girls” 

The Arts Desk

The Arts Desk published an extract from The Most Beautiful Lips in the World, a short story by Elahe, translated from Dari by Dr Negeen Kargar.

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“Though the stories are often challenging, the writers grant their characters moments of connection, and grace” 

Asian Review of Books

My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022) was reviewed by writer Rosie Milne for Asian Review of Books.

Read now…

Review of My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird

Lekkwal

Dr Negeen Kagar reviewed My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (MacLehose Press, 2022) for Lekkwal, a Pashto printed magazine in Khaibar Pakhtunkhwa founded in 1992.

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