Dispatches from the Kabul Cafe with Heidi Kingstone

As the Asia House Lit Festival draws to an end, A personal highlight for me was to hear Heidi Kingstone in conversation with Jemima Steinfeld. Both women have written accounts of working abroad and in this conversation we were treated to Heidi’s memories of being a war correspondent in Afghanistan and a reading from her new book, Dispatches from the Kabul Cafe.

Heidi began by explaining the phenomenon, Kabubble, which arose

The Ninth Asia House Lit Festival

Hanif Kureishi in conversation with Razia Iqbal from last year’s festival.

London’s incredible Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival begins this week – don’t worry, you still have time to get a ticket as it runs from 7 – 18 May.

The line up is as impressive and diverse as ever and launches on 7 May with the acclaimed author Xue Xinran who will be celebrating the release of her new book, Buy Me the Sky. Xinran will be discussing the new generation of China which is such a fascinating topic, we can’t wait to attend.

Collateral Damage and Compensation

You may have read about the alleged killing spree that Staff-Sergeant Robert Bales went on in Afghanistan killing seventeen people including women and children as they slept in their houses.

It is news today that the US government paid compensation to the remaining relatives of the deceased but it was news over the weekend

Masks Of Modernity

A global survey in the Guardian on Wednesday reported that India was the 4th worst country for women to be born into. A country rapidly developing into an economic superpower is deemed to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world due to the high levels of female infanticide and sex trafficking.

The survey was conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the launch of Trust Law, a website providing free legal advice to women’s groups across the world. Afghanistan was polled as the worst, with The Congo, Somalia and Pakistan all in the top 5.