Atiq Rahimi

Atiq Rahimi won France's top literary prize with his first novel, written in French, The Patience Stone.

This has now been translated into English.

He talked to The Strand about why he is driven to write about the search for solace in the midst of physical destruction and how he entered the mind of an Afghan woman living under strict Islamicist rules.

Atiq Rahimi (c) Toby Rhind-Tutt