How do the actors in the film compare to the characters you envisioned in your head when writing the novel?

KH: I could give you a better answer if I could actually remember now what the characters looked like in my mind when I was writing the novel. I had a very clear image of these characters, but [then] I went on the set and met the boy who played Hassan. He inhabits that character. Suddenly, it occurred to me that I couldn't think of Hassan without thinking of that actor's face. It's a bit of inspired casting. He is so expressive, he's like an adult in a child's body.

Kalid Abdalla learned Dari in one month. Tell me about that.

KH: Somebody ought to write a story just about that. I can't imagine anyone has ever pulled off anything like this. He learned more than just how to say his lines and pull off an accent. He actually organically learned the language and came out fluent in Dari to the point where I can sit for hours and speak to him in Dari. He can fool an Afghan into thinking he is from Kabul. He's 26 years old but very wise beyond his years.

Is your hope that The Kite Runner will help audiences realize that everyone has a story?

KH: Even here in the Bay Area there is a large Afghan community that is largely invisible. Now maybe people will think, "What were they before? What was their family like in Kabul? What did they go through? Did they lose family members in the war? Were they doctors or lawyers?" It goes back to telling a story that connects with people on a human level. When you do that, I think you get people thinking. I have said this before, and it may sound a little pompous, but I think this is the first step towards understanding. If you don't identify with somebody, it is hard. If you identify with them on a human level, you can feel more for them. This story has done a lot for Afghans. I received a letter from people in Nebraska who say they want to adopt an Afghan child, or from people in Toronto who want to start an organization because they connected with the characters in this story.



Was The Kite Runner a story that you just needed to get out on paper, or was there any sort of intent when sitting down and writing the novel?

KH: All stories I write are compulsive. Anything I've ever written was because I don't have a choice. I write stories because I can't wait to tell it, I can't wait to see how it ends. That's the way this novel was written. I don't want to say there is an intent to educate. That is too much of a burden for a novelist.

Did you have a moment like when a band hears their song on the radio for the first time? Was there a moment like that for you, realizing that The Kite Runner was a hit?

KH: It hit me when I was sitting on an airplane and this lady sitting next to me whipped out a copy of my book out of her bag. I was like, "This is weird." She started reading it and was obviously enjoying it and was misty eyed. That's the moment when it hit me that people were actually going to read this thing. That was a good year after it was published. It was kind of sobering, leading up to the publication of the book; you think that everyone is going to read your book. The reality is that a few people will, if you're lucky. Then that thing happened where suddenly everyone was reading it, but that was the first time it hit me.

You have a medical background. How did you go from being an internist to an author?

KH: I didn't, really. I was writing most of my life. That little story that Amir tells at the beginning of the film is a story I wrote in Kabul when I was nine years old. I grew up writing long before the thoughts of medical school crossed my mind. So there was never that thought of, I'm going to change careers. It just never happened. I kept working as a doctor for a year and a half after the novel was published. I had no intention of changing careers. It was just kind of imposed on me because as the novel became more popular, my presence was requested at many things and I ran out of vacation time. I realized I couldn't do both of these things anymore, so I took time off and kept extending it. Now it's almost three years later and I'm still not back.