An Afghan Journey launched Monday

Well, what better reason to kickstart this blog again than by celebrating the launch of Roger Willemsen's book An Afghan Journey (translated by myself from the original Afghanische Reise):

http://www.englishpen.org/events/penevents/anafghanjourney/

Monday 26 February - 7pm

Venue: Goethe Institute, 50 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2PH

Roger Willemsen will read from the book, followed by a discusison with Amanda Hopkinson and myself.

The book has won support from English PEN as a Recommended translation.

It was fascinating to translate a book about a place I'd never seen. I also wanted to share this experience with people who would never buy the book, and went on a little walk to encounter something of Afghanistan in dreamy Bucks, walking to Heathrow and Southall, home to a large Afghan community. More about that in the next post . . .