It's wrong to hurt even bad people. Because they don't know any better, and because bad people sometimes become good.

You don't order someone to polish your shoes one day and call them 'sister' the next.

I entered the literary world, really, from outside. My entire background has been in sciences; I was a biology major in college, then went to medical school. I've never had any formal training in writing. So what I know about writing, I know from my own instincts, and whatever the narrative voice is in my own head.

I get daily e-mails from Afghans who thank me for writing this book [The Kite Runner], as they feel a slice of their story has been told by one of their own. So, for the most part, I have been overwhelmed with the kindness of my fellow Afghans.

Laila has moved on. Because in the end she knows that’s all she can do. That and hope.

I have this almost pathological fear of boring the reader.

You don't have to donate money, it can be clothes, or books, or mediavl supplies. So there's so much that can be done [for refugees], the most difficult thing is that first step that decision to do something.