The Vanishing Girl of Kabul: Zahra Joya at Hatchards, Piccadilly

Schedule

Thu Sep 03 2026 at 06:30 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC+01:00
Location

Hatchards | London, EN

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We are delighted to welcome Zahra Joya in conversation with her co-author Amie Ferris-Rotman to discuss The Vanishing Girl of Kabul.
About this Event

We hope you will be able to join us for an evening of conversation with Zahra Joya and Amie Ferris-Roman to discuss

The Vanishing Girl of Kabul:

Betrayal, Hope and an Extraordinary Fight for Women's Rights

A powerful and poignant memoir about growing up female in Afghanistan, being betrayed by a world that promised to protect women's rights and how these rights are under threat across the world.

When the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, Zahra Joya disguised herself as a boy simply to attend school. After the US-led invasion, her world transformed. Education, opportunity and freedom flourished. Like many Afghans, Zahra dared to believe in a future. She became a journalist and established her own media company to tell the stories of Afghan women. Then, in 2021, the Taliban returned. Decades of hard-won progress vanished overnight. Women were erased from public life once again, and the promises made by the West collapsed into silence.

As we will discover this evening, The Vanishing Girl of Kabul is Zahra's powerful story of betrayal, survival and resistance. Co-written with award-winning journalist, Amie Ferris-Rotman, a longtime friend of both Zahra and Afghanistan, this book blends the intimacy of memoir with the urgency of investigative reporting, exposing the brutal realities of gender-based oppression - not only in Afghanistan, but around the world.

"A brave and beautiful book which touches the soul, the heart and the mind" - Sandi Toksvig

"Beautifully written and powerfully told. Joya's story will leave you angry, but also awed that in this painful history there's still profound hope. An impressive memoir of a truly inspiring individual" - Lyse Doucet, author of The Finest Hotel in Kabul.



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Where is it happening?

Hatchards, 187 Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

GBP 5.00 to GBP 10.00

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Waterstones
Host or PublisherWaterstones

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