i want to give up my bearings, slip out of who i am, shed everything, the way a snake discards old skin.

The short of it is, as an aspiring writer, there is nothing as damaging to your credibility as saying that you don't like to read.

When I go to Afghanistan, I realize I've been spared, due to a random genetic lottery, by being born to people who had the means to get out. Every time I go to Afghanistan I am haunted by that.

I also felt The Kite Runner was a story that would lend itself well to a visual retelling in a graphic novel.

Kabul was a thriving cosmopolitan city with its vibrant artistic, intellectual and cultural life. There were poets, musicians, and writers. There was also an influx of western culture, art, and literature in the '60s and '70s.

At last, she makes her choice. She turns around, drops her head, and walks toward a horizon she cannot see. After that, she does not look back anymore. She knows that if she does, she will weaken.

I wanted to write about Afghanistan before the Soviet war because that is largely a forgotten period in modern Afghan history.