24 Facts About Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-American novelist, UNHCR goodwill ambassador, and former physician.

Khaled Hosseini's debut novel The Kite Runner was a critical and commercial success; the book and his subsequent novels have all been at least partially set in Afghanistan and have featured an Afghan as the protagonist.

When Khaled Hosseini was 15, his family applied for asylum in the United States, where he later became a naturalized citizen.

Khaled Hosseini did not return to Afghanistan until 2003 when he was 38, an experience similar to that of the protagonist in The Kite Runner.

In later interviews, Khaled Hosseini admitted to feeling survivor's guilt for having been able to leave the country prior to the Soviet invasion and subsequent wars.

Khaled Hosseini was born on March 4,1965, in Kabul, Afghanistan, the eldest of five children.

Khaled Hosseini spent eight years of his childhood in the upper class Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in Kabul.

In 1973, Khaled Hosseini's family returned to Kabul, and Khaled Hosseini's youngest brother was born in July of that year.

In 1976, when Khaled Hosseini was 11 years old, his father secured a job in Paris, France, and moved the family there.

Khaled Hosseini describes the experience as "a culture shock" and "very alienating".

Khaled 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.

Khaled Hosseini completed his residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1997.

Khaled Hosseini practiced medicine for over ten years, until a year and a half after the release of The Kite Runner.

In 2003, Khaled Hosseini published his first novel, The Kite Runner, the story of a young boy, Amir, struggling to form a deeper connection with his father and coping with memories of a traumatic childhood event.

Khaled Hosseini made a cameo appearance towards the end of the movie as a bystander, when Amir buys a kite which he later flies with Sohrab.

Khaled Hosseini is currently a Goodwill Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Khaled Hosseini has been working to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through the Khaled Hosseini Foundation.

The concept for the foundation was inspired by the trip to Afghanistan that Khaled Hosseini made in 2007 with UNHCR, with the organisation raising funds to build homes for refugees returning to Afghanistan.

In 2018, Khaled Hosseini published an illustrated short story, Sea Prayer, inspired by the death of Alan Kurdi, a three year old refugee who drowned when trying to reach Europe from Syria.

Khaled Hosseini has cited a Persian translation of Jack London's White Fang as a key influence from his youth, in addition to translations of novels including Alice in Wonderland and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer series.

Khaled Hosseini is married to Roya, and they have two children.

Khaled Hosseini is fluent in Persian and Pashto, and has described himself as a secular Muslim.

In July 2022, Khaled Hosseini announced via social media that his 21 year old child had come out as transgender.

In 2008, Khaled Hosseini received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.