“Maybe this was my punishment, and perhaps justly so. 'It wasn't meant to be', Khala Jamila had said. Or, maybe, it was meant not to be.”

Afghan-American novelist of the 21st century, born in Paris. His work explores displacement and human connection through vivid storytelling, most notably with *The Kite Runner* and *A Thousand Splendid Suns*. A physician by training, he channels his experiences into narratives that bridge cultural divides.