2024-10-06
27 分钟The resurgence of the Taliban in August 2021 sent shockwaves throughout the world. Images from Afghanistan showed fear, panic and unrest looming. With the country back under Taliban rule, a group of Afghan women writers feared the worst. They kept in touch with the Untold Narratives, a development programme dedicated to writers from marginalised communities or conflict zones. It was a group of messages from these writers detailing their lives that the collective curated into a diary ‘My Dear Kabul’. Georgina Godwin speaks to the director, Lucy Hannah, and co-editor, Sunila Galappatti, about the process of recording the diary entries. We’ll also hear from one writer about life in Kabul today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello, this is Meet the Writers.
I'm Georgina Godwin.
In 2021, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.
Under their rule, Afghanistan's economy has floundered.
Malnutrition has soared and hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost.
Most women have been banned from working.
I speak to a collective today that works with writers who are marginalized by conflict in the country.
Established in 2020, untold narratives were set up in response to the needs of a group of AFGH women writers who had little or no opportunity to work with editors or translators or to have their work published.
With several of their stories published to the world in a book called My Pen is the Wing of a Bird.
Their latest work is a collective diary of an Afghan writing group living in Kabul.
The writers kept in contact via a WhatsApp group created by the collective, saving their messages and daily accounts of life under Taliban rule.
Their book is now published.
My Dear, A Year in the Life of an Afghan Woman Writing Group.
During this episode, you'll also hear excerpts of the work read by translators and authors.
Well, first I speak to the director of Untold Narratives, and that's Lucy Hannah.
Lucy, welcome back to the program.
It's lovely to have you here.
Hello.
Tell me about Untold Narratives.
How did it begin?