Nadia Hashimi is an Afghan-American paediatrician and novelist who draws on her Afghan inheritance to write fiction for adults as well as young readers.
Her novels span generations and continents, taking on themes like forced migration, conflict, poverty, misogyny, colonialism, and addiction. Her books have been translated into as many as 17 languages. Her latest novel, City of Widows, focuses on women in the years since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan.
An epic saga of an Afghan woman with secrets that threaten to undo the life she resurrected from ashes. She, a soldier in an elite military unit, and her musically gifted daughter find themselves at a crossroads of history.
Hashmi spoke to Scroll about her novel, the constant denial of education to women and girls and how the decades of conflict have shaped Afghan women and children and how fiction has changed perceptions about Afghanistan, moving away from its representation in the Western media.
What was the moment or idea that compelled you to write City of Widows?
In August 2021, many people (me included) were scrambling to get the names and demographic information of vulnerable people onto spreadsheets that would be sent to the US State Department for possible evacuation. The US had set a final date for its withdrawal, and...