Khaled Hosseini Biography and latest books by Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini is the author of the bestselling novels The Kite Runner, which was his debut novel, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. He was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he spent his childhood till the age of 8. His family moved to the United States seeking political asylum when he was 15.

Hosseini graduated from Independence High School in San Jose in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor\'s degree in biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D. in 1993. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1996.

He began writing The Kite Runner while he was still practicing medicine, in the beginning of March 2001. The book was published in 2003. The Kite Runner is the story of a young boy, Amir, juggling to establish a closer rapport with his father and coping with memories of a haunting childhood event. The novel is set in Afghanistan, from the fall of the monarchy until the collapse of the Taliban regime, and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its many themes include ethnic tensions between the Hazara and the Pashtun in Afghanistan, and the immigrant experiences of Amir and his father in the United States. The novel was an international bestseller, selling in more than 12 million copies worldwide. It was then produced as an audiobook read by the author and has also been adapted into a film of the same name released in December, 2007.

Hosseini\'s second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the story of two women of Afghanistan, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become entwined, was released in 2007. In 2008, the book was the bestselling novel in the UK (as of April 11, 2008), with more than 700,000 copies sold.

When his books were released, there was much turmoil in Afghanistan and his books helped in giving the western world a glimpse of an Afghanistan which was not war-ravaged and grappling with social, political and economic failures. They have played a role in helping change certain perceptions about the country.

His writings reflect his love and nostalgia for his homeland and its culture, with ethnic traditions and dynamics of the erstwhile Afghanistan society playing an important role in his plot, characterizations and the treatment of the characters. As a kid, Hosseini used to read a great deal of Persian poetry as well as Persian translations of novels ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Mickey Spillane\'s Mike Hammer series.  This could explain the writing technique and style which he employs in his works. His narrative is almost languid, with a pace that goes like the breathing of a whale. His prose has a lyrical quality to it, reading almost like a poem.

Though there are only two books to fall back on to scrutinize his merit as a writer, those two are indicative enough of his ability to weave and tell stories that will strike a chord with the reader and prick some feelings within. His books carry a mass appeal, though that should be no grounds to label him as a writer pandering to popular tastes. It is yet to be seen if Hosseini breaks away from this mould and charms his readers once again. 

Khaled has been working to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, the concept for which was inspired by a trip to Afghanistan Khaled made in 2007 with the UNHCR.

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