Parwana Fayyaz
Bio
I am an Afghan writer. Forty Names, my first collection of poetry, was published in 2021 and named a New Statesman Book of the Year and a White Review Book of the Year. I also translate both poetry and fiction from Persian into English.
Stories (20/0)
Barfi Shodi: You've Been Snowed
"Ali, I will give you this. You must run fast. Faster than ever in your life, before the snowflakes melt. Please don't get caught..." Joyously dancing in the snowfall, Jamshed hands Ali the enclosed envelope, made out of quick paper, stuffed with a fistful of snow. Jamshed returns inside, closes the door and watches Ali pacing through snowflakes. Within minutes Ali is running so fast toward the closed door and a crowd of young boys chasing him. Jamsheed rushes to open the gate and closes the door on the face of the panting young faces.
By Parwana Fayyaz5 months ago in Fiction
Maceen and Al-khatoo
Maceen listened very carefully to the tale of the book, for her path was guided by what lay in the tale. The hallowing silence in the desert shall make it clear to you. You are not alone, thus it is not you, talking to yourself. Listen, there is something so close to you that is talking to you. Listen deeply, this voice is historically known. It is the tone of something between your father’s sighs and the echoes of the mountains, where you grew up. If you keep listening, I will tell you the tale of my tale, that’s the book you are carrying, the book that has made you invisible and visible at the same time. Yes, Maceen, my daughter, my companion, be here, be with me.
By Parwana Fayyaz6 months ago in Fiction
Stories like breathing
I have always been a creator, but not the kind to share my writings easily, or even openly online, with all seeing your words so closely. But I am also the kind that if good ideas and plots come to me, I share them without hesitation. And then I have always had an unreasonable fear inside me, the one that does not even talk to me— only expresses itself on my forehead. And then I learnt about Vocal as a medium in May 2021, and that's when I started thinking about sharing my stories and poetry online. Since then it has become my platform to test the very core of that fear inside of me. I’ve shared fiction (short stories) that I never thought they were worth sharing. I found an audience and received great responses. But I think I know what’s next for all things that reside in me, and the things Vocal has instilled in me. So here is my first and most probably close-to-final list of aspirations for myself as a creator on Vocal in 2024.
By Parwana Fayyaz6 months ago in Writers
Dis-Appearance. Second Place in the Whodunit Challenge. Top Story - January 2024.
In the back of her head, Seema keeps whispering to herself. Today can be a little different from yesterday. She is carrying the big bowl of dough toward the tandoor house. The big dug hole in the middle of the room is accepting of anything that can fall in it. She lights the fire in the hole and throws in some more wood sticks. The fire is galloping; the surrounding walls of the tandoor are changing their colour to some red-copper bricks. She reaches those walls and drops herself fully inside the hole. All of a sudden, she feels calmness and purity beyond the screams she is used to. Her hands and feet have never felt this restful. They are swimming in the air, like the air, she is floating freely. Where am I going, without them? She throws the walls behind her and comes back to the oldest room, which is turned into a tandoor house. Half of the room is filled with magazines from the 1980s. She has got good use for them, making more fire. She is halfway finishing up baking the pile of flatbread that will feed some fifteen family members. She folds each flatbread in a half-moon, but her mind goes into the dying fire in the hole.
By Parwana Fayyaz6 months ago in Criminal
