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Episode 3 - Exile

Autumn 2021. In their collective diary many of the women write about leaving Afghanistan to escape the new regime. Read by Juliet Stevenson, Indira Varma, Chipo Chung and Shala Nyx.

It's September 2021. In their collective diary many of the women writer share their thoughts about leaving Afghanistan to escape the new regime. Read by Juliet Stevenson, Indira Varma, Chipo Chung and Shala Nyx.

My Dear Kabul is a collective diary kept by a group of women writers in Afghanistan after the Taliban's return to power in August 2021. That fateful summer, as the Taliban advance across Afghanistan intensified, the women, brought together by their writing, were about to publish their first short story collection. Almost immediately, they began keeping a record of their experiences on WhatsApp, telling the story of everyday life in their homeland as cities transform, families change, and freedoms disappear. Some were students, newly married, mothers, and grandmothers, and while some remained in their homeland, others were forced to flee where they had to contend with becoming refugees and asylum seekers in unwelcoming countries

My Dear Kabul is an Untold Narratives project. Untold Narratives works to develop and amplify the work of writers marginalised by community or conflict, and share their stories with readers, locally and globally.

The readers are Juliet Stevenson, Indira Varma, Chipo Chung and Shala Nyx who throughout their careers actively work to support children and women鈥檚 rights, and more broadly human rights in the UK and internationally.

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Sound design by Peter Ringrose
Produced by Elizabeth Allard

Release date:

14 minutes

On radio

Wed 5 Mar 2025 11:45

Broadcasts

  • Wed 5 Mar 2025 11:45
  • Thu 6 Mar 2025 00:30