Featured Interview With Author Samman Akbarzada
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I'm in my early twenties, raised in Kabul, Afghanistan. But sadly had to flee my motherland for the sake of my life. I'm somewhere far away now, holding onto hope because that's all we have. My pets have been mostly cats, but I see myself having a shitzu puppy, living in my little cabin somewhere by the woods, writing, and writing. That's my dream life.
Writing is my escape from a reality that gets hard to face sometimes. Working on projects such as writing novels and poems has become an indispensable part of my life. It is my weapon to support the silenced.
Through writing, I found a voice I never had, the power I never felt, and the comfort I never experienced before I discovered this passion. Writing has helped me save my life and escape war or in the worst case, death, so for me, it was is, and always will be, life-changing.
While living in the saddest country in the world, enduring and overcoming had to be innate. Writing is my gentle respite, it takes me far away from all that overwhelms me. Puts me in a flow state where I can pour my heart and bleed on ivory pages until it is good again and time to withstand.
Through writing, I want to play my little part and portray how the world should act and accept its responsibilities in building a place where children are not the victims of greedy warlords, where women don’t have to fight to be seen as human beings, where peace would be a reality, not just a shooting star wish. One of my main goals will forever be to use my ability as an opportunity to do the least, but the best I can for all my fellow citizens held hostage and suffering behind closed doors.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I've been passionate about writing since a young age, I was six when I wrote my first poem. My first inspiration came when I used to watch my mother writing, as she woke up late at night with a pen to portray the love and sorrow for her country in poetry and that shaped me; whatever I am, whatever success I may acquire, it will always be because of her. At first, my works were all rainbows and sunshine, but as I got older and tasted a bit of life, I noticed that it has a much more purpose than my pleasure time. Writing is my respite and my weapon to support the silenced. In my early teens I wrote short stories, then movie scripts, and eventually novels. Poems were something I wrote in every phase. After years of work, wondering if that dream is even meant to be, and over five hundred rejection letters, I finally made it.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Khaled Hosseini is probably the one I look up to the most and have been poignantly influenced by. I remember sobbing till the morning after the night I read "A Thousand Splendid Suns"
My favorite authors have mostly passed away since classic literature is my favorite genre. Other than that right now I'm thinking of Paulo Coelho, Margaret Atwood, Elif Shafak, and Haruki Murakami, whom I enjoy the most but I tend to like all kinds of fiction novels honestly speaking, poetry books and books related to psychology in the non-fiction. I love every word by every writer out there, I breathe in your words, so keep writing, please.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My poetry book, "A Glimmer in the Dark"
The poems living inside its pages include pieces from my eighth-grade days in 2016, as I wrote in the classroom that might never see the daylight again. Seated beside the window, scribbling secretly under the desk, as a naive dreamer girl, lost in her own little world, my Afghan dream. And the timeframe ceases in March 2022, as I stared at the glooming window to my left, wondering what just happened to me, to her, to him, to them, to us…But why we had it almost, if it was bound to square one… and how could we stop the untamed train that left us a trainwreck, a reclused wanderer, senseless ruminations, my shrouded motherland, and a million broken dreams.
It's a six-year timeline, a portion of my life that will live on through these pages. I tried to include the ones I thought would fit best. May it make you feel something.
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