Qais Akbar Omar
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Qais Akbar Omar | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 November 1982 Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Occupation | Writer, carpet producer |
| Language | English |
| Education | MFA creative writing |
| Alma mater | Boston University |
| Period | 2013–present |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Notable works | A Fort of Nine Towers |
| Spouse | Mai Wang |
Qais Akbar Omar (born November 18, 1982) is an Afghan-American writer. Omar is the author of A Fort of Nine Towers, an autobiography of his childhood in Afghanistan during the years of the civil war and the Taliban from 1992 to 2001.
Omar was born in Kabul in 1982.[1] He is the owner of Kabul Carpets, a business that his family has operated for four generations. When he was ten years old, the civil war broke out in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989.[2] At the age of eleven, Omar learned the art of carpet-knotting from a Turkmen family who lived next door.[3] After his family returned to Kabul under Taliban rule, he ran a secret carpet factory in his home.[4]
He was admitted to Kabul University in 1999, where he studied journalism.[2] Omar worked as an interpreter for the US military. He also worked for the UN, and served as a textiles specialist for USAID and the Asian Development Bank, helping carpet weavers across Afghanistan.
Omar moved to the United States in 2012 out of fear that he and his family would be harmed due to his political writing. While in the United States, he continued his education, which had been interrupted by the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.[5]
Education
Omar completed his bachelor's degree in journalism at Kabul University. In 2007, he was invited to the University of Colorado as a visiting scholar. He earned a Master of Business Administration at Brandeis University.[6] In 2014, he graduated from Boston University with a MFA in Creative Writing.[7] In 2014–15, he was a Scholars at Risk Fellow at Harvard University.[8]
