unCommon Authors, an Author Video Series: DEFIANT DREAMS by Sola Mahfouz and Malaina Kapoor

By Coll Rowe | May 2 2024 | All-School ReadsCollege & University ReadsCommunity Reads

                                                                     PRH Education/Common Reads presents:

unCommon Authors
unCommon Authors is a monthly video series highlighting exceptional and
unique authors talking about their books.

 

Defiant Dreams is a searing, deeply personal memoir of a tenacious Afghan girl who educated herself behind closed doors and fought her way to a new life.

 

© Mark Wilson Images

Sola Mahfouz was born in Afghanistan and immigrated to the U.S. in 2016, to attend college. She is currently a quantum computing researcher at Tufts University Quantum Information Group. In her free time she is focusing on reading and studying different styles of fiction, as well as writing about the rugged homeland she has left behind. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Opened Shutter Photography

Malaina Kapoor is a writer from Redwood City, California. She previously served as a Fellow at PEN America, where she advocated for international human rights, press freedoms, and election integrity. Malaina served on the management team of a refugee resettlement organization and was the producer of In Deep, a nationally syndicated public affairs radio broadcast program. She has received national awards for her poetry, personal essays, and short stories. Malaina will graduate from Stanford University in 2025.

The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education
9780593359785

An engrossing, dramatic memoir, co-written with young Indian American human rights activist Malaina Kapoor, Defiant Dreams is the story of one girl, but it’s also the untold story of a generation of women brimming with potential and longing for freedom.

Paperback