Gettysburg Students Attend Khaled Hosseini Lecture

By Emily Francisco 

Last Wednesday, October 26 at 4:15 p.m. fifty lucky Gettysburg students were bused to Hood College for a very special lecture. Given by none other than Khaled Hosseini, author of international bestsellers The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, the lecture addressed not just the success of his books, but also his background, his acquired writing process, and the current state of affairs in Afghanistan.

Hosseini grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan. In 1965 at age eleven, he and his family were relocated to France, and a few years later were granted political asylum in the United States. Growing up, he loved storytelling, though his parents never encouraged him to pursue writing as a career. He attended high school in San Jose, California and eventually enrolled at Santa Clara University, where in 1984 he received his bachelor’s degree in Biology. Soon after, he earned his Medical Degree at the University of California at San Diego. He wrote his first novel The Kite Runner while working in medical practice. The book became an international bestseller in 2003.

While waiting for the lecture to start, audience members could watch a slideshow on the The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a charity organization founded by the author. The concept was inspired by the author’s return trip to Afghanistan in 2007 with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The organization builds shelters for refugee families in Afghanistan and provides economic and education opportunities for women and children.