Khaled Hosseini, Author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns; UNHCR Goodwill Envoy, Northern CA

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and History in Kabul. In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris, France. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted asylum in the United States. In September of 1980, the Hosseini family moved to San Jose, CA. Mr. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology. The following year, he entered the University of California San Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a Medical Degree. Mr. Hosseini was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.

While in medical practice, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, in March of 2001. In 2003, The Kite Runner, was published and has since become an international bestseller, published in 70 countries. In 2006, he was named a goodwill envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns was published in May 2007. Mr. Hosseini has been working to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through The Khaled Hosseini Foundation.