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Happy birthday Khaled Hosseini: Interesting facts about the bestselling author of Kite Runner and more

Hindustan Times, Delhi | By
Mar 04, 2020 10:51 AM IST

Khaled Hosseini celebrates his birthday on March 4. Born in 1965 in Kabul, Hosseini moved to Paris with his family in 1976.

Towards the very end of the novel The Kite Runner, a scene plays out where a man sees himself looking at the eyes of a young boy as he mouths a dialogue that has become one of the most quoted lines in literature. “For you, a thousand times over,” says Amir, the protagonist of author Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel.

Happy birthday Khaled Hosseini: Interesting facts about the bestselling author of Kite Runner and more.(File Photo)
Happy birthday Khaled Hosseini: Interesting facts about the bestselling author of Kite Runner and more.(File Photo)

Known for an emphatic tone that evokes emotions that tug at heartstrings, Hosseini’s stories dig deep into the human psyche and sing of love, loss, betrayal, and redemption.

Khaled Hosseini celebrates his birthday on March 4. Born in 1965 in Kabul, Hosseini moved to Paris with his family in 1976. They wanted to come back to Afghanistan in 1980 but the country saw the invasion by the Soviet Army then. The family was granted political asylum in the US.

Here are some lesser known facts about him:

· Khaled Hosseini started to write his first novel The Kite Runner in March 2001 while he was practising medicine

· He was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency in 2006

· He established The Khaled Hosseini Foundation which provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. The foundation came into being following his trip to Afghanistan.

· The Kite Runner was adapted on the big screen and Khaled Hosseini made a brief appearance in the end

· Encouraged and motivated by the success of The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini switched to writing full-time in 2004

· His second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns was published in 2007 and was inspired by his observation of women wearing burqas during his Afghanistan visit in 2003.

· Khaled Hosseini’s third novel And the Mountains Echoed was published in 2013. It speaks about siblings getting separated when a sister is given up for adoption

· The author also penned an illustrated novel Sea Prayer, written in the form of a letter from father to son.

Hosseini has a number of memorable quotes attributed to him. Here are some of them:

-- But better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.

-- I suspect the truth is that we are waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.

-- And that’s the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

-- Marriage can wait, education cannot.

-- One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.

-- Children aren’t coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors.

-- I will follow you to the ends of the world.

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