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

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Eighteen Afghan women’s works written in their native Pashto or Dari language were translated for this deeply impactful anthology. The authors are Maryam Mahjoba, Freshta Ghani, Masouma Kawsari, Fatema Haidari, Sharifa Pasun, Elahe Hosseini, Batool Haidari, Atifa Mozaffari, Anahita Gharib Nawaz, Parand, Marie Bamyani, Maliha Naji, Fatima Saadat, Farangis Elyassi, Fatema Khavari, Naeema Ghani, Zainab Aklhaqi, and Rana Zurmaty. She has been reporting from Afghanistan since 1988 when she lived in Kabul and has been a frequent visitor ever since. My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird gives Afghan women the opportunity to take control of their own narrative and to use their voices to advocate for themselves and their country. So I think reading a couple stories at a time is probably the way to go and I will definitely take more time with it when I come to rereading this.

No-one aware of the harrowing events currently playing out in Afghanistan and, in particular, the catastrophic effect this has had on the lives of women, can be unmoved by their plight. It was deeply moving to hear about the lengths some of these women have had to go through to share their writing with the world. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin. NOT SO GOOD BITS: Firstly, most of the stories are very short and, given the sheer volume, I struggled to sink my teeth into some of them.The stories are set in various periods varying from the 1980s to the present day and feature men and women in their homeland as they brave the trials and tribulations of war, political upheaval, poverty, oppressive societal norms, misogyny, discrimination and much more. These exciting contemporary voices from the country's two main linguistic groups (Pashto and Dari) explore a wide range of issues - family, work, tradition, sexuality, friendship, gender identity and real-life events - through original, vibrant, and tonally varied short fiction. The short story format is unique in the diversity of lives that can be captured -- we see comfortable lives and poverty-stricken ones, women suffering at the hands of their husbands and fathers, and others who are in loving marriages or daughters lovingly doted over.

Thank you to Quercus for giving these amazing women a platform in which to showcase their creativity and their voices. To give a special note to the following entries that took my breath away either, my literal breath from crying or due to the unexpected gasp caused by a twist that I did not see coming and was so grateful to have read it. These are the very sparks of freedom, for there is no truer liberation that the voice within ourselves taking flight, there is no sweeter victory than our stories taking root, being remembered, cherished, and passed on. The stories I want to re-visit and discuss with others because they are so shocking, but also quite beautifully written and the descriptions of food and landscape paints an intriguing country that in other instances one might want to visit. In the process they reiterate how much Afghan women could again say and do, if only they were allowed to.They have poured their creativity spirit forth in this collection of stories and all the authors are to be commended for their wonderful ability to tell their stories through amazing storytelling. 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. It will leave you with a lump in your throat and a heavy heart full of possibilities, much like the women pouring their hearts out in this collection.

So no matter what atrocities and struggles are mentioned in this anthology, things are even worse now. A collection of stories like this written by Afghan Women where we get to gain an insight into their stories and experiences are too important for a little book reviewer like me to even begin to judge. These stories deserve to be read, not out of a sense of social responsibility, but because they are good, and because it is a tragedy that voices like these are silenced all over the world. When Lucy Hannah decided to put together an anthology of short stories by Afghan women in 2019, it already seemed like a hugely ambitious project. The authors and translators (most of the stories were originally written in Pashto or Dari) have done a magnificent job of painting a deeply intimate picture of what life looks like in a land that is so different from our own.This collection is essential, it is the coldest, hardest truth, and yet it rings with such hope and perseverance. 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. This is a life changing book, it makes you re-think so many things, re-evaluate what’s really important in life, we may all share the same planet, but we do not share the same lives in any way. My Pen is the Wing of a Bird is an anthology of short fiction written by Aghan women and painstakingly translated into English, not only for the benefit of English-speaking audiences, but out of necessity; the current political climate in Afghanistan prevents these women from being published, and therefore from finding a readership, in their own country. Afghan woman, particularly post-August 2021, are afforded few opportunities for their inner worlds to become externally realized.