Homeira Qaderi

Homeira Qaderi is an Afghan writer, activist, and educator. She has written seven books, including a collection of short stories and an acclaimed novel, Noqra: The Daughter of Kabul River (Rozgar Publishers, 2009). Her first book in English translation, Dancing in the Mosque: An Afghan Mother’s Letter to Her Son (Harper, 2020), was excerpted by The New York Times and chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best nonfiction books of 2020. She also has written several books for children. Qaderi received her PhD in Persian literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. As a lifelong activist and a staunch defender of women’s rights, she was awarded the Malalai Medal, Afghanistan’s highest civilian honor. She was a writer in residence at the University of Iowa in 2015. Before leaving Afghanistan in August 2021, she taught at Gharjistan University in Kabul. Now at Radcliffe, Qaderi is writing a novel, inspired largely by her own experiences, with the working title Tell Me Everything.