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

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In a Nutshell: A brilliant OwnVoices anthology, narrating stories about the ordinary citizens' lives in Afghanistan. The stories have been divided across four untitled sections, but I simply could not figure out the basis of the compartmentalisation. RATING: I’m giving this book five stars because I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to give it any less. Some are more like an episode, offering a little glimpse into a day or week of the central character.

Through tiny observations we, as readers, can identify with the plight of so many women in Afghanistan, whose daily lives are. Despite their brevity, the stories convey so much - about life, hardship, sacrifice, strength, endurance and triumph.

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. Yet they all encompass a central theme of resilience and love, which is more poignant now than ever. It did not let me rest till I finished it, as after reading one story, I wanted to read the next one.

Not that it matters much on the macro level, but I prefer understanding the editorial choices in an anthology. This will allow you some respite from the strong, emotive themes and to appreciate each story on its own merits. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. 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.

My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird is a landmark collection: the first anthology of short fiction by Afghan women.

There is a beautiful simplicity to the prose in these stories which helps cut through to the deeper feeling and meaning in each of the stories. Afghanistan has a rich literary history, but chronic instability, compounded now by the current crisis, have meant that women's voices have remained hidden. My pen is the wing of a bird; it will tell you those thoughts we are not allowed to think, those dreams we are not allowed to dream. Eighteen Afghan women’s works written in their native Pashto or Dari language were translated for this deeply impactful anthology.The story ends on a note of defiant hope: its young narrator, Nekbakht, decides she wants to “show some spirit in the face of our struggles”, and goes back to school. 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. Women and girls experience abuse and hardship daily with little to look forward to - life, and simply living is difficult.

I like a short story format from time to time in my reading and I think the form really suited these dificult stories as over a longer form it might be too much to digest. 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. Lyse Doucet is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and a senior presenter with BBC World News television and BBC World Service radio. Zubair Popalzai), a woman who manages to escape her war-torn homeland and move to America, attributes her sleeplessness to her favorite pillow she has left behind and vows to carry it back with her on her next visit. The stories capture friendship and family, hope and despair, peaceful evenings and bursts of violence.

The short stories in this book are all very different from each other in tone, concept and also quality. My Pillow’s Journey of Eleven Thousand, Eight Hundred, and Seventy-six Kilometers - Farangis Elyassi – Never thought a story about a pillow would be so poignant. One of these women wrote her story in the middle of a damn war that was going on, I know this is headline news at the moment with what’s going on in Europe and the Middle East but I’ve never truly realized just how comfy and safe my life is compared to so many people in this world. 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. Afghanistan, says Hannah, has never been heard or understood, so giving women the opportunity to bring their stories into a wider world continues to be essential.