{"id":37347,"date":"2026-01-29T15:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/?p=37347"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:13:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:43:26","slug":"with-books-and-imagination-the-young-afghan-women-finding-consolation-in-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/with-books-and-imagination-the-young-afghan-women-finding-consolation-in-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWith books and imagination\u201d: The young Afghan women finding consolation in literature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Azada Raha<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four young women sit together, waiting for the phone to ring. When the call finally comes through, their friend\u2019s voice is crackly and hard to make out, but they wait patiently for the signal to improve so they can start discussing their chosen book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every Thursday, the five friends come together away from the disapproving gaze of the Taliban for a reading circle. They read not for entertainment but, as they put it, to understand life and the world around them. They call their group \u201cwomen with books and imagination\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most they gather in person, but Parwana, 21, lives in a different district so has to join by phone. She was still a child when the Taliban pulled girls out of education and didn\u2019t get to finish school. Now, she says, her entire week revolves around books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen they banned us from attending school, I lost all hope. My mother encouraged me, but I knew things wouldn\u2019t improve,\u201d she says. \u201cI decided to do something myself\u2026 and now I have this reading circle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week, Parwana is leading a discussion on <em>The Year of Turmoil, <\/em>a novel by the Iranian writer Abbas Maroufi about a young woman named Noushafarin who finds herself trapped in an oppressive marriage. Set against the backdrop of turmoil in mid-twentieth-century Iran, its themes of repression, faith and patriarchal power resonate strongly among the women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although they\u2019re inside, there\u2019s a chill in the air, and steam rises from cups of green tea as Parwana\u2019s voice comes through the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe represents women who have suffered, who have remained trapped, and who are oppressed by family and society in today\u2019s Afghanistan,\u201d says Parwana of the character. \u201cFrom the very beginning, I identified with her; it was painful, very painful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the books the five women have discussed in the months since they started the reading circle last June are classics, and most deal with issues of power, suffering, and the place of women, though they have embraced variety. Among the books they\u2019ve read are George Orwell\u2019s <em>Animal Farm<\/em>, Ernest Hemingway\u2019s <em>The Old Man and the Sea<\/em>, Zoya Pirzad\u2019s <em>I\u2019ll Turn Off the Lights<\/em> and <em>The Symphony of the Dead<\/em>, also by Iranian author Abbas Maroufi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the books can be found online and downloaded for free, though occasionally they borrow books from libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They meet every week for an hour and a half at one of the members\u2019 homes, deliberately varying the location to avoid scrutiny in a country where women\u2019s freedoms have been severely curtailed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Parwana sometimes has to climb a hill just to get a strong enough internet connection on her phone to download the book they\u2019re reading. But it\u2019s worth it, she says, and she has the support of her elder brother, who\u2019s told her to keep at it, no matter what. \u201cThe excitement I feel for these sessions is indescribable,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All the members of the reading circle had their hopes for an education dashed by the return of the Taliban. They\u2019re among the more than 2 million women and girls deprived of schooling in the four years since a ban was introduced, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unicef.org\/press-releases\/new-school-year-starts-afghanistan-almost-400000-more-girls-deprived-their-right\">UNICEF<\/a>, which has warned of \u201ccatastrophic\u201d consequences for the country as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cReading has always been an integral part of my life,\u201d says the group\u2019s coordinator Darya, 25, who was in her third year of a language and literature degree course when the Taliban closed universities to women. \u201cWhen I read, I feel as if I\u2019m in another world \u2013 the characters, the places, nature\u2026 Sometimes I cry with the story, sometimes I laugh. But always, books have given colour to my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Darya says <em>The Year of Turmoil<\/em> had a particularly strong impact on her. \u201cThis novel narrates years full of pressure and restriction. Noushafarin represents those who are caught in such times,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHer situation mirrors the lives of people in today\u2019s Afghanistan \u2013 people grappling with educational restrictions, social repression, and political pressure. Like the characters in the novel, we keep hope alive through resistance and learning,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roya, another member, explains the purpose of the circle this way: \u201cMost women who accept oppression do so because they are unaware of their rights. The books we read are about suffering, choice, and standing up to force \u2013 things we ourselves live with every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Morwarid, 22, says many women in today\u2019s Afghanistan resemble Noushafarin, who she sees as \u201ctrapped between tradition, religious power and social judgment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe transforms from a silent woman into an aware human being. Her fate shows that, in such an environment, the very desire to choose is a form of resistance,\u201d says Morwarid, who won a place at Balkh University in northern Afghanistan to study law and political science, but wasn\u2019t able to take it up before the ban was introduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe very night I was supposed to leave for Balkh, universities were closed to women,\u201d she says. \u201cI cried until morning. Life became dark for me. Through reading and this group, I gradually emerged from that nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her dream was to become a lawyer. Now, she says Thursdays are the most important day of her week: \u201cThis circle has kept me away from many of life\u2019s hardships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tellingly, the book she has liked the most is <em>The Old Man and the Sea<\/em>, a story of survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the importance of reading for women, she says: \u201cIf a woman is aware, a family is aware. An aware woman raises aware children. The Taliban fear aware women. To confront the Taliban, one must become aware and grow \u2013 all together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Outside, the restrictions continue. But in this small room, in the company of books, are young women who believe that reading itself is a form of resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Names in this report have been changed for security reasons<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four young women sit together, waiting for the phone to ring. When the call finally comes through, their friend\u2019s voice is crackly and hard to make out, but they wait patiently for the signal to improve so they can start discussing their chosen book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"no-sidebar-narrow","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"bottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[966,9581,902],"tags":[1564,6347,11501,11502],"class_list":["post-37347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-en","category-our-work-en","category-reports-en","tag-afghan-women","tag-books","tag-books-and-imagination","tag-literature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - 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