Atiq Rahimi’s Novel ‘I Am Kabuliwala’ Released in France
Afghan-French author Atiq Rahimi releases a Paris novel revisiting Kabuliwala, blending exile, cinema, and survival through encounters reshaping despair into hope today.
Rahimi’s new French-language novel reimagines the Kabuliwala story through a filmmaker who travels to Kolkata hoping to shoot a film adaptation.
Production collapses after disputes with producers and mounting obstacles, leaving the protagonist emotionally exhausted and struggling with separation from his family in France.
In deep despair beside the Ganges River, the filmmaker considers ending his life before encountering Rahmat, the legendary Kabuliwala character he hoped to portray.
Rahmat becomes a mirror to the narrator, both living in exile, burdened by memory, and suspended between fiction, loss, and fragmented realities.
The novel, released by Éditions P.O.L, continues Rahimi’s exploration of displacement, identity, and survival through layered storytelling blending cinema and literature.
Rahimi previously gained international acclaim through works exploring war and exile, later receiving France’s prestigious recognition connected to Académie Goncourt for literary achievement.
The story draws inspiration from “Kabuliwala,” written by Indian Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, portraying emotional bonds between an Afghan migrant and a child in Kolkata.
Tagore, one of India’s greatest poets and philosophers, reshaped modern South Asian literature through works exploring humanity, nationalism, and cross-cultural compassion.
His Kabuliwala story, set in Kolkata, remains globally admired for portraying migrant loneliness and universal parental love beyond borders and cultures.
Rahimi’s novel reconnects contemporary exile experiences with Tagore’s timeless narrative, showing how literature continues bridging memory, migration, and fragile human hope.
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