Publications

My Dear Kabul: A year in the life of an Afghan women's writing group

Publishing on 15 August 2024—the three-year anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power—this collective diary is a moving and intimate portrait of Untold’s women’s writing group, who documented the fall of Kabul and its aftermath.

In August 2021, these women were in the process of publishing a short-story collection called My Pen Is The Wing Of A Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women (MacLehose 2022), when their world was turned upside down as US forces withdrew and the Taliban took over. Staying connected via WhatsApp, they established a lifeline; a vital space to keep their creativity alive, support each other and bear witness to the political turmoil unfolding around them.

‘A hugely important book’ – Bernardine Evaristo

‘Its courage is momentous’ – Ali Smith

A Fistful of Moonlight: New Fiction from Assam

An anthology of contemporary short stories translated into English, edited by Mitra Phukan, Arunava Sinha and Lucy Hannah. Available in India (BEE Books, January 2023) and in the UK (MacLehose Press, November 2023). A local Assamese edition will be published soon.

A Fistful of Moonlight is a collection of fourteen stories that explore love, identity, politics, fantasy and a fresh take on an age-old fairy tale, transporting readers into the heart of contemporary writing from Assam.

Rising After the Fall: Afghan women share their stories

Using extracts from their collective diary on WhatsApp, kept during and following the fall of Kabul in 2021, this book gives children aged 8-12 personal and compelling snapshots from a woman writer’s perspective.

Packed with details about life both before and after Taliban took over in August 2021, each chapter will help to provide children with a better understanding of life in Afghanistan.

Fully illustrated by Afghan artist Sara Rahmani.

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

Stories by 18 writers from the Write Afghanistan project were published in the UK on 17 February 2022 in My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women (MacLehose Press).

My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird is a landmark collection: the first anthology of short fiction by Afghan women, with an introduction by Lyse Doucet and an afterword by Lucy Hannah.

My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird has been published in the USA, Japan and Korea. Individual stories have been published online in many literary journals around the world.

“Powerful, profound and deeply moving, these stories will expand your mind and elevate your heart” Elif Shafak

“This book is a precious collection of work, the first and maybe last of its kind. My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird is a huge accomplishment”
Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch

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Untold is a Community Interest Company (company number 12654173). Prospero World (UK registered charity number 1163952) receives charitable donations in support of our work through its fiscal sponsorship programme, and receives tax efficient donations from UK donors on our behalf.