{"id":16562,"date":"2023-06-25T13:20:32","date_gmt":"2023-06-25T17:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/?page_id=16562"},"modified":"2026-09-03T19:36:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T23:36:03","slug":"jamaluddin-aram","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/jamaluddin-aram\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamaluddin Aram"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jamaluddin Aram is a documentary film maker, producer and writer from Kabul, Afghanistan. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English and history from Union College in Schenectady, New York and now lives in Toronto.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nothing Good Happens in Wazirabad on Wednesday<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Simon & Schuster Canada, 2023.
PS8601.R345 N68 2023<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It is the early 1990s, in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Russian occupation has ended, and civil war has broken out, but life roars on in full force in the working-class town of Wazirabad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rash of burglaries has stolen people\u2019s sleep. Fifteen-year-old Aziz awakens from a dark dream that prompts him to plant shards of glass along the wall surrounding his house to protect his family against theft. Aziz\u2019s sister, Seema, decorates kites with her calligraphy and sells fresh scorpions to spare her mother from servicing the local soldiers. Along the main street, three militiamen wait for the fighting to resume, while the Baker, the Watchmaker, the Tailor, and the Vegetable Seller make their modest living and the Bonesetter reads poetry to his cat. And every day at noon, a flaming red rooster walks three blocks to visit his favourite hens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But tensions rise among the town\u2019s people. The burglaries have put everyone on edge. The militiamen are on the hunt for the thief who stole their dog\u2014and their ammunition. And a widow, who is the target of men\u2019s lust and women\u2019s scorn, soon finds herself on the periphery of a terrible violence. While the armed conflict rages on in the background, rumours swirl with a feverish frenzy, culminating in the collective chorus of the town\u2019s living, breathing dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2024 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in Literary Fiction<\/a> (Winner)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Non-fiction (Memoir)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Blood of Things: A Love Letter to Afghanistan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In elegantly written and meticulously observed essays including \u201cAfghanistan, the Beautiful Land of Endless Suffering,\u201d \u201cThe Blood of Things,\u201d and \u201cSmall Memories,\u201d Jamaluddin Aram examines the complexities of his place of birth and the demands of forging a career in writing. He explores themes such as displacement, ethnic discrimination, and exile, balanced by the lightness of memory, friendship, and hope. In prose that is at once highly political and deeply personal, Aram writes about \u201cthe terrible responsibility of war,\u201d the fall of Kabul, and an account that connects his great-grandfather to the medieval Order of Assassins, and subverts entrenched portrayals of his people in popular culture, among other subjects, in a collection that is both sweeping and intimate, immersive and provocative, and which fully reveals his talent as an exciting new voice in nonfiction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Simon & Schuster Canada<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher McClelland & Stewart, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jamaluddin Aram is a documentary film maker, producer and writer from Kabul, Afghanistan. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English and history from Union College in Schenectady, New York and now lives in Toronto. Fiction Nothing Good Happens in Wazirabad … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16562","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16562"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22667,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16562\/revisions\/22667"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}