S5 Ep. 36: Remembering Afghanistan’s Wars: Jamil Jan Kochai on Shifting Storytellers and Forms

fiction/non/fiction

Fiction writer Jamil Jan Kochai joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell almost a year after U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan to talk about how the wars there will be remembered. He reflects on how growing up with Western stereotypes of Afghans made him want to revise false narratives, and also discusses how fiction’s flexible forms allow him to reorient his own thinking about the stories of war-affected Afghans and diaspora. He reads from his new book, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Jamil Jan Kochai

• The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories
• 99 Nights in Logar
• Jamil Jan Kochai Reads “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak” | The New Yorker
• “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,” by Jamil Jan Kochai | The New Yorker
• Jamil Jan Kochai Reads “Occupational Hazards” | The New Yorker
• Jamil Jan Kochai on Résumés as Stories | The New Yorker

Others:

• U.S. is rejecting over 90% of Afghans seeking to enter the country on humanitarian grounds - CBS News
• S4 Ep. 26: Bullshit Saviors: Helen Benedict and Nadia Hashimi on Depictions of the American Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
• “Love and honour and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice…” - by Nam Le Prospect Magazine
• “The Indian Uprising” by Donald Barthelme | The New Yorker

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