The Kite Runner

WHAT IS THE KITERUNNER ABOUT?

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini’s international bestselling novel and film, is a powerful story of friendship spanning cultures and continents, following one man’s journey to find redemption.

Afghanistan is a divided country on the verge of war and two childhood friends are about to be torn apart. It’s a beautiful afternoon in Kabul and the skies are full of the excitement and joy of a kite flying tournament. But neither Hassan or Amir can foresee the terrible incident which will shatter their lives forever.

Khaled Hosseini said: “The Kite Runner is a story that appeals to very powerful, universal human emotions, it transcends its cultural setting, its geographic parameters, and speaks about universal human experiences – brotherhood, being a father, being a son, friendship, the desire to be a good person and be able to look at yourself in a mirror with a sense of self-respect.”

The Kite Runner, published in 2003, was Khaled Hosseini’s first novel. It became an instant bestseller across the globe and has since been published in 70 countries, selling 31.5 million copies in 60 languages.

The book tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, whose closest friend is Hassan, his father’s young Hazara servant. The tale is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of Afghanistan’s monarchy through the Soviet invasion, the exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime. It charts a friendship that spans cultures and continents and follows one man’s journey to confront his past and find

redemption.

In 2013, Nottingham Playhouse and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse pulled off an extraordinary theatrical coup and secured the rights to stage the European premiere of The Kite Runner. The subsequent production toured the UK and was hailed as a theatrical tour de force by both the public and critics.

With a script completed before the release of the feature film adaptation, the play was first produced in San Francisco in 2009 by The San Jose Repertory and won five San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Awards.