Atiq Rahimi was born in Afghanistan in 1962, but fled to France in 1984. There he has become renowned as a maker of documentary and feature films, and as a writer. His novel, The Patience Stone was awarded the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 2008. The film of his novel Earth and Ashes was in the Official Selection at Cannes in 2004 and won a number of prizes. Read More He is currently adapting another of his novels, A Thousand Rooms of Dreams and Fear, for the screen. Since 2001 Rahimi has returned to Afghanistan to set up a Writers’ House in Kabul and to offer support and training to young Afghan writers and filmmakers. He lives in Paris.