Last Thursday, Mer and I headed southeast about forty-five minutes to Mount Union University in Alliance. The college has a speaker series for which they bring in famous people to speak. This Thursday, we were there to hear Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

For those not familiar with Hosseini, he was born in Afghanistan to a father who was a diplomat. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in the late seventies, Hosseini and his mother were in Paris with his father, who was assigned there. They sought asylum in the United States, and they moved to California when Hosseini was in high school.

Hosseini trained as a doctor, and wrote his first novel, The Kite Runner, while he was in residency. During his talk, he said he wrote the book for himself, and had not expected much from it. The book tells the story of a boy who grows up in Afghanistan, but leaves the country after the invasion. It is a compelling story, and the book was a best-seller. That allowed Hosseini to quit being a doctor and become a full-time writer.

The talk session lasted about ninety minutes, and was in Mount Union’s gym. I’m guessing there were about two thousand people in attendance. Hosseini was very engaging and affable, and seems like someone who would be fun to know. He has also started a foundation to help children in Afghanistan, which is quite commendable.

I found the entire evening interesting, and since Mer teaches The Kite Runner, I was happy she could get to go. She said it was very helpful to her.