Immigrant of the Day: Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)

Khaled Hosseini (born March 4, 1965) is a novelist and physician born in Afghanistan. His debut novel, The Kite Runner, was a bestseller. His second, A Thousand Splendid Suns, was released in May 2007.

Hosseini was born on March 4, 1965, in Kabul, Afghanistan. His father was involved with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother was a teacher at a girls high school. In 1973, a coup ousted the former King of Afghanistan from power. In 1976, Hosseini’s family moved to Paris. In 1980, the family sought political asylum in the United States and made their residence in San Jose, California. They had left Afghanistan with only the clothes on their back.

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 UC San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D. in 1993. Hosseini completed his residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1996.

The Kite Runner is the story of a young boy seeking 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 Kite Runner has been adapted into a film of the same name.  Its release this year has been delayed because of controversy over some of the scenes depicting Afghanistan.

Hosseini is a naturalized U.S. citizen.  For his official website, click here.

KJ