In 2005, a group of Afghan actors endeavored to create an unusual dramatic performance--one that would bring theater to a region wounded after years of war with the Taliban and offer hope for healing. "A Night in the Emperor's Garden" is the captivating account of their resulting play and a rich exploration of the region's culture. In preparation, for five months, the group tirelessly reworked Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost" into their own Dari language while the members brought their own experiences to the interpretation. One actor was a police detective and widow determined to create images of strong women. Another had trained at Kabul University before fleeing to Pakistan as a refugee. A third had played the title role in the acclaimed film "Osama," yet was a beggar who could barely read and write. Joined by a French actress who served as director and several other enthusiasts, these actors performed before royalty and street vendors alike for one night amid the ruins of a magnificent garden laid out five centuries earlier by Emperor Babur. For the first time in thirty years, men and women stood on stage together as they worked toward a new era in Afghanistan. Qais Akbar Omar and Stephen Landrigan, both involved in the production, have captured its exuberance and optimism along with the actors' joys and sorrows in the decade following the play. Revealing a side of Afghanistan largely unknown to outsiders, "A Night in the Emperor's Garden" tells the magical story of an artistic achievement with universal appeal.

With all the emotional power of The Kite Runner, this is the very first true life account of growing up in Afghanistan, by a writer who still lives in Kabul. Qais Akbar Omar's young life coincided with one of the most convulsive decades in Afghan history: civil war, the rise of the Taliban, and the arrival of international troops in 2001. A Fort of Nine Towers, named for the place his parents first sought shelter from war, is the story of Qais' family and their remarkable survival. When the fighting came, this group of tenacious and deeply loving people was buffeted from one part of Afghanistan to the next, 'like kittens in the jaws of a lion'. They set up camp on the plains, in the Buddha caves at Bamiyan, and later with Kuchi nomads, before they were finally able to return to Kabul - where in many senses their trials were just beginning. As he shares this long journey, through terror, loss, heartbreak, and sudden moments of joy, Qais' spirit never ceases to shine. This is an extraordinary book about a beautiful and civilized country ravaged by war, and about the power of stories to embolden, console, and bind a family together, in the face of almost unimaginable odds.

Twenty-three years ago--after the Soviets left and before the Taliban came to power--Kabul was a garden where seven-year-old Qais Akbar Omar flew kites from the roof of his grandfather's house. Then came the hollow sounds of rocket fire as the Mujahedin, self-proclaimed holy warriors, took over Afghanistan, and the country erupted in civil war. Omar's family fled, leaving everything behind to take shelter in an old fort. But after a narrow escape from death, his father decided that the family must leave the country.
Yet the journey proved more difficult than anticipated, and in this stunning coming-of-age memoir, Omar offers a moving recollection of these events--a story of daily hardships, relieved by moments of joy and immense beauty. Inflected with folktales and steeped in poetry, "A Fort of Nine Towers" is a life-affirming triumph.