MY PEN IS THE WING OF A BIRD

Author: Multiple
Date released: 2022
Category: Short Story Collection

Synopsis: A woman's fortitude saves her village from disaster. A teenager explores their identity in a moment of quiet. A petition writer reflects on his life as a dog lies nursing her puppies. A tormented girl tries to find love through a horrific act. A headmaster makes his way to work, treading the fine line between life and death.

My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird is a landmark collection: the first anthology of short fiction by Afghan women. Eighteen writers tell stories that are both unique and universal - stories of family, work, childhood, friendship, war, gender identity and cultural traditions.

This collection introduces extraordinary voices from the country's two main linguistic groups (Pashto and Dari) with original, vital and unexpected stories to tell, developed over two years through UNTOLD's Write Afghanistan project. My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird comes at a pivotal moment in Afghanistan's history, when these voices must be heard.

The UnReel Take:

Story: 8.0
Writing: 8.0
Characters: 10
Setting: 10

UnReel AR: 8.5

Bottom Line: This collection blew me away. The stories were written by Afghani women in either Dari or Pastho, then translated into English. I don't really want to say anything about the content because, frankly, I don't think I’d do it justice. Let's just say that every story is powerful, and many of them were just vignettes of daily life, which makes their impact even more impressive. They’re all pretty short, but I found myself only reading one or two stories a day because I had to sit with them before continuing.

The ARC version I read didn't include the Introduction, which I would've liked to have read, but I'll definitely be picking up a physical copy, so no harm done.

I don't normally discuss a book’s “Afterward” in my reviews, but not reading this Afterward is a disservice to the authors. Writer Lucy Hannah points out that there’s no "About the Writers" section in this anthology, though there obviously should be. Tragically, the situations of many included writers don't allow for transparency, and several of stories were written under a pen name. The Afterward discusses the topic of translation, and how translating these stories into English gives these women a voice in the international community for basically the first time. One of the included authors wrote a letter about how she couldn't sign her own work I wanted to include the end of that letter below:

There is a story told by Maulana Balkhi, whom you may know as Rumi, in the Masnavi. A Persian, an Arab, a Turk and a Greek were travelling together, and they received a present of a dirhem. The Persian said he wished to buy "angur" with it, the Arab said he would buy "inab," while the Turk and the Greek were for buying "uzum" and "astaphil," respectively. They argued as to which of them would get his way, until a wise man, who spoke all their languages, intervened. He explained that they all wanted grapes.

I also want grapes.

Pick up this collection. I guarantee you won't be sorry.

Ideal Reading Location: Somewhere in your home that’s quiet, where you’re unlikely to be disturbed, with a box of tissues easily accessible.

Drink Pairing: A good strong Afghani black tea.

Maybe your experience will be different!