Nothing Good Happens in Wazirabad on Wednesday by Jamaluddin Aram

It is the early 1990s, in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Russian occupation has ended, and civil war has broken out, but life roars on in full force in the working-class town of Wazirabad.

A rash of burglaries has stolen people's sleep. Fifteen-year-old Aziz awakens from a dark dream that prompts him to plant shards of glass along the wall surrounding his house to protect his family against theft. Aziz's sister, Seema, decorates kites with her calligraphy and sells fresh scorpions to spare her mother from servicing the local soldiers. Along the main street, three militiamen wait for the fighting to resume, while the Baker, the Watchmaker, the Tailor, and the Vegetable Seller make their modest living and the Bonesetter reads poetry to his cat. And every day at noon, a flaming red rooster walks three blocks to visit his favourite hens.

But tensions rise among the town's people. The burglaries have put everyone on edge. The militiamen are on the hunt for the thief who stole their dogand their ammunition. And a widow, who is the target of men's lust and women's scorn, soon finds herself on the periphery of a terrible violence. While the armed conflict rages on in the background, rumours swirl with a feverish frenzy, culminating in the collective chorus of the town's living, breathing dreams.

In this brilliantly kaleidoscopic, darkly funny, and wholly captivating novel about peace in a time of war, Jamaluddin Aram breathes life into the families and friends, lovers and loners, neighbours and sworn enemies who wander the winding alleys of Wazirabad. (From Simon & Schuster)

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Jamaluddin Aram is a Toronto-based documentary filmmaker, producer and writer from Kabul, Afghanistan. Aram's short storyThis Hard Easy Lifewas a finalist for RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers in 2020. He was selected as a mentee by Michael Christie for the Writers' Trust of Canada Mentorship program for his bookMarchoba, which becameNothing Good Happens in Wazirabad on Wednesday.

Interviews withJamaluddin Aram

The Sunday Magazine21:14Focus on the 'slow times' to see life amid wartime, says Afghan writer

The image of Afghanistan that we tend to see in the news is one of constant conflict. But Toronto-based writer Jamaluddin Aram is out to show another side of life during wartime. His debut novel Nothing Good Happens in Wazirabad on a Wednesday showcases everyday life in an Afghan neighbourhood amid the countrys civil war in the 1990s. He joins David Common to discuss how his own childhood in Kabul influenced the book, and why he wanted to show how life in Afghanistan is as full as anywhere else in the world.