The famous author of The Kite Runner speaks about his life as an author and his luck. This is a good, short interview that speaks volume. Worth reading.

"Incredible. Even publishing was banking on an Iraq invasion?

You expect to be rejected, but what upset me about it was what it meant for Afghanistan. That was a foreshadowing of what happened — that Iraq would overshadow the campaign and absorb military resources. I landed in Kabul the day before Shock and Awe in Iraq, and you could all but hear the collective groan."

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An important feature in the New Yorker written in 2006. Lawerence Wright goes off into the secret world of filmmaking in Syria to discover more about the society that at the time had limited press freedoms. It is fascinating to read it and assess that with events taking place there now.

"Although many foreign critics have portrayed Mohammed and other Syrian directors as symbols of artistic victimization, he defiantly rejects that role. “Do you want me to play the hero?” he asked. “Do you want me to repeat two hundred times each day that my films are forbidden? This is my society. I belong to this world. I am not a victim.”

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