The Many Faces of Smiles

1. Young Afghan boy smiles on camera, Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan, Asia. In 2010, People in these districts were more likely to be satisfied with democracy, to say that they had freedom of expression and to trust others.
2. Atiq Rahimi is the recipient of a number of prestigious literary and film awards. In 2004, he won the Prix du Regard vers l’Avenir at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Dhow award for Best Feature Film at the Zanzibar International Film Festival for his film version of Earth and Ashes. In 2008, he was awarded the Prix Goncourt for The Patience Stone – France’s highest literary honour. Rahimi directed 2012 the film adaptation of ” The Patience Stone from a screenplay he co-authored with Jean-Claude Carrière.
3. Mohammad Sharif Saiidi is among the top afghan poet writers, who received poetry scholarships from the Swedish Writers Foundation in 2013 for 50,000 Swedish Krone, and in 2014 for 70,000 Swedish Krone. Many books of him were published, alongside his translated poetry and stories from English and Swedish to Persian. His work was published in the journals of Dor-e Dari, Khate Sevom, Revayat and also in Saiidi’s weblog. A collection of stories of Willy Kyrklund, the Swedish writer and philosopher, have been translated by Saiidi and is ready for publication.