The Bookseller of Kabul

The Bookseller of Kabul is a work of non-fiction by journalist Asne Seierstad. The book came from Seierstad's journey to the Khan family's home in Kabul, Afghanistan, where she lived for a number of weeks. The main characters in the story are the many members of the Khan family, including Sultan Khan, the patriarch of the house, who worked as a bookseller in the city. As the book progresses, Seierstad examines life in Kabul after liberation from the Taliban, with a particular focus on the impact of living under patriarchal military regimes. One of Seierstad's greatest achievements in the writing of The Bookseller of Kabul was her ability to uncover the realities of life for women living under oppressive social and political customs.

The Bookseller of Kabul follows the history of Sultan Khan's book business, looking at how it prospered under a series of regimes, including Soviet rule and the fundamentalist Taliban. Seierstad delves into Sultan's life, for much of the first part of the book focusing on his experiences as a bookseller. Originally, Sultan was trained as an engineer but left that line of work to become a bookseller because of his passion for knowledge and literature. He began as a student, traveling to Tehran to buy a crate of textbooks, which he then smuggled into Kabul and sold for a handsome profit. Realizing that there was potential for him to not only bring knowledge into his repressed city, but also to make a living, Sultan travels to Tehran and Pakistan, buys a load of books, and opens his first bookstore.

Sultan is interested in knowledge and the protection of knowledge, and so he struggles when the Soviets and the Taliban try to confiscate or ban certain kinds of literature. He is particularly passionate about protecting Afghan history, which he sees as essential for the city of Kabul to access. Because of this, Sultan is thrown in prison multiple times, and many of his books are burned in the streets. Rather than giving up, Sultan remains faithful to his trade and his passion for books. He hides thousands of books that might be banned or burned in attics around the city, so he can spread knowledge without putting himself at risk. At one point, when the war was particularly bad, Sultan sent his wife, Sharifa, to Pakistan, where the family was able to continue its bookselling in relative peace.



Though Sultan sees himself as a rich, self-made man who brought himself up from nothing growing up in the poor suburbs of Kabul, his family has a different idea of who he is and the quality of their lives. Sultan now runs three bookstores, his success dictating that he take a second wife, as is the custom of wealthy men. Sultan, despite his view that knowledge is important and liberating for the people of Kabul, is also a devout Muslim, and he believes in the subservient role of women in the home and society. Sharifa, Sultan's first wife, is devastated that a second woman will be coming into her already crowded home and sharing the care of the five Khan children. The family is living in a crowded, four-bedroom apartment in an old Soviet building. Because of the fighting, electricity and water are unreliable, and Sharifa wonders if it is logical to bring in another mouth to feed at such a time of stress.

Meanwhile, other characters carry on with their lives. Mansur, one of Sultan's sons, is experiencing his first religious pilgrimage. Sultan's two sisters are trying to break away from the family – one is seeking a husband, and the other is looking for a job so she can support herself financially and thus have more independence.

Overall, The Bookseller of Kabul is not only Sultan’s story, but also the story of his family, their dreams, experiences, fears, and joys. It is the story of life after a violent totalitarian regime, and of literature and freedom of expression – not only for Sultan's readers, but also for his wives, sisters, and daughters.



Asne Seierstad is a Norwegian freelance journalist who writes primarily about everyday life in war zones – most notably her experiences in Kabul in 2001, Baghdad in 2002, and Grozny, Chechnya in 2006. After writing The Bookseller of Kabul, Seierstad experienced legal trouble over claims of defamation and negligent journalistic practices, which are still ongoing. She has written six books and received a number of honors for her work, including the Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism.