Tali Girls: A Novel of Afghanistan
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Based on true stories, Tali Girls offers an intimate look at the lives, loves, horrors, and dreams of three girls in an Afghan mountain village under Taliban rule. Their voices offer a vivid picture of the endless cycle of suffering that girls and women in the grip of the Taliban authorities face. Kowsar, Geesu, and Simin illuminate the power of love and generosity in the face of oppression and violence. Their stories are testaments of resilience, courage, and hope. In Sara Khalili’s vibrant and nuanced translation, Tali Girls tears down the veil of silence and exposes the treacherous realities women must confront in war-torn Afghanistan today.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Sara
Khalili
Sara Khalili is an editor and translator of contemporary Iranian and Afghan literature. Her translations include the works of Shahriar Mandanipour, Goli Taraghi, Parinoush Saniee, Shahrnush Parsipur, and Yaghoub Yadali. She also translated In the Meadow of Fantasies by Hadi Mohammadi and Nooshin Safakhoo, which in 2022 received a Batchelder Honor from the American Library Association.
Sara Khalili is an editor and translator of contemporary Iranian and Afghan literature. Her translations include the works of Shahriar Mandanipour, Goli Taraghi, Parinoush Saniee, Shahrnush Parsipur, and Yaghoub Yadali. She also translated In the Meadow of Fantasies by Hadi Mohammadi and Nooshin Safakhoo, which in 2022 received a Batchelder Honor from the American Library Association.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Throughout the world, Afghanistan’s reputation among women is grim. With precise language, Siamak Herawi makes certain the story he tells is unambiguous. There can be no misinterpretation. The young girl Kowsar “imagines her Mother’s words as bats flying from her lips and ripping through the air in the dim room.” The challenge she has thrown at the teacher who has praised his student: “What use are school and books to a helpless wretch?” (p. 36) How could a mother say such a thing about her daughter? It is not long before Kowsar realizes in her world “wretch” translates to “woman.” In context, Golrokh’s harshness is protectiveness. She lives what she knows her daughter will also live. To read Tali Girls is to be trusted to walk, respectfully and quietly, in a procession of truth-tellers.