Jamil Jan Kochai
@jamiljankochai.bsky.social
Story Collection "The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories" - Aspen Lit Award Winner - National Book Award for Fiction Finalist - Stories in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, and The Best American Short Stories.
Reposted by Jamil Jan Kochai
September 5, 2025 at 6:40 PM
My new story “An Open Heart” is out in the @newyorker.com flash fiction series. It’s a long, strange sentence with stories within stories and a MySpace reference.
“They cut open my father’s chest and splayed his ribs out beneath their halogen lamps and, inside his heart, they inserted a ticking device whose purpose we couldn’t exactly discern . . .” Flash fiction by Jamil Jan Kochai.
“An Open Heart,” by Jamil Jan Kochai
Arman scoffed at the idea of a life beyond death, and Dad pointed out the irony of a ghost denying the afterlife.
newyorker.com
August 14, 2025 at 6:52 PM
My new story “An Open Heart” is out in the @newyorker.com flash fiction series. It’s a long, strange sentence with stories within stories and a MySpace reference.
Reposted by Jamil Jan Kochai
“They cut open my father’s chest and splayed his ribs out beneath their halogen lamps and, inside his heart, they inserted a ticking device whose purpose we couldn’t exactly discern . . .” Flash fiction by Jamil Jan Kochai.
“An Open Heart,” by Jamil Jan Kochai
Arman scoffed at the idea of a life beyond death, and Dad pointed out the irony of a ghost denying the afterlife.
newyorker.com
August 14, 2025 at 3:34 PM
“They cut open my father’s chest and splayed his ribs out beneath their halogen lamps and, inside his heart, they inserted a ticking device whose purpose we couldn’t exactly discern . . .” Flash fiction by Jamil Jan Kochai.
Reposted by Jamil Jan Kochai
Was liest du gerade, Daniela?
J. J. Kochai
DIE HEIMSUCHUNG DES HADSCHI HOTAK
Mal laut, mal leise und immer auf den Punkt erzählt und verwebt Kochai Geschichten, die er auf Paschto und Farsi gehört hat, mit seiner Lebenswelt.
codobuch.buchkatalog.de/die-heimsuch...
@jamiljankochai.bsky.social
J. J. Kochai
DIE HEIMSUCHUNG DES HADSCHI HOTAK
Mal laut, mal leise und immer auf den Punkt erzählt und verwebt Kochai Geschichten, die er auf Paschto und Farsi gehört hat, mit seiner Lebenswelt.
codobuch.buchkatalog.de/die-heimsuch...
@jamiljankochai.bsky.social
July 15, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Was liest du gerade, Daniela?
J. J. Kochai
DIE HEIMSUCHUNG DES HADSCHI HOTAK
Mal laut, mal leise und immer auf den Punkt erzählt und verwebt Kochai Geschichten, die er auf Paschto und Farsi gehört hat, mit seiner Lebenswelt.
codobuch.buchkatalog.de/die-heimsuch...
@jamiljankochai.bsky.social
J. J. Kochai
DIE HEIMSUCHUNG DES HADSCHI HOTAK
Mal laut, mal leise und immer auf den Punkt erzählt und verwebt Kochai Geschichten, die er auf Paschto und Farsi gehört hat, mit seiner Lebenswelt.
codobuch.buchkatalog.de/die-heimsuch...
@jamiljankochai.bsky.social
Reposted by Jamil Jan Kochai
Our spring issue of Quarterly West is live! Featuring our quirky, thought-provoking prose contest winners and the incredible pieces chosen as finalists! www.quarterlywest.com Endless thanks to @jamiljankochai.bsky.social for judging this year!
Quarterly West
www.quarterlywest.com
May 26, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Our spring issue of Quarterly West is live! Featuring our quirky, thought-provoking prose contest winners and the incredible pieces chosen as finalists! www.quarterlywest.com Endless thanks to @jamiljankochai.bsky.social for judging this year!
Reposted by Jamil Jan Kochai
Today i learned that the idea for the short story The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai came from an Onion article @bencollins.bsky.social you can find it here www.audible.com/pd/The-Best-...
The Best Short Stories 2023
Check out this great listen on Audible.com. The prestigious annual story anthology includes prize-winning stories by Jamil Jan Kochai, David Ryan, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Lisa Taddeo, Ling Ma, Catherine...
www.audible.com
May 8, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Today i learned that the idea for the short story The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai came from an Onion article @bencollins.bsky.social you can find it here www.audible.com/pd/The-Best-...
Reposted by Jamil Jan Kochai
“There’s a madness in this country.” The Former Detective by Jamil Jan Kochai SACRAMENTO NOIR #SundaySentence @jamiljankochai.bsky.social
February 16, 2025 at 4:24 PM
“There’s a madness in this country.” The Former Detective by Jamil Jan Kochai SACRAMENTO NOIR #SundaySentence @jamiljankochai.bsky.social
Reposted by Jamil Jan Kochai
Looking forward to reading these stories from my hometown, by such writers as @jamiljankochai.bsky.social, William T. Vollmann, and Maceo Montoya. Edited by John Freeman who I just now learned is also from Sacramento.
SACRAMENTO NOIR IS OUT NOW! www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/sacr...
March 4, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Looking forward to reading these stories from my hometown, by such writers as @jamiljankochai.bsky.social, William T. Vollmann, and Maceo Montoya. Edited by John Freeman who I just now learned is also from Sacramento.
Reposted by Jamil Jan Kochai
The deadline to apply to our Winter Online Workshops is this weekend! Whether you are at work on short stories or a novel, our Fiction Faculty are sure to help you stir up something new and exhilarating. This year's staff is a list of true stunners!
kenyonreview.org/event/winter...
kenyonreview.org/event/winter...
December 12, 2024 at 2:53 PM
The deadline to apply to our Winter Online Workshops is this weekend! Whether you are at work on short stories or a novel, our Fiction Faculty are sure to help you stir up something new and exhilarating. This year's staff is a list of true stunners!
kenyonreview.org/event/winter...
kenyonreview.org/event/winter...
I'm honored to announce that I'll be joining the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton University as Assistant Professor, and I want to take this oppurtunity to reaffirm my support for all those who are resisting the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians.
November 23, 2024 at 3:51 AM
I'm honored to announce that I'll be joining the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton University as Assistant Professor, and I want to take this oppurtunity to reaffirm my support for all those who are resisting the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians.
Reposted by Jamil Jan Kochai
In the next episode of Novel Dialogue, @KNadiminti.bsky.social speaks with @JamilJanKochai.bsky.social about narrative form and the cycles of war, hosted by @AarthiVadde.bsky.social.
All of Our Stories Were War Stories: Jamil Jan Kochai and Kalyan Nadiminti
“I had an innate sense as a child that the war was a deep part of who my parents were, so tied up in how they told stories and how they understood reality and existed in the world.”
buff.ly
November 22, 2024 at 9:07 PM
In the next episode of Novel Dialogue, @KNadiminti.bsky.social speaks with @JamilJanKochai.bsky.social about narrative form and the cycles of war, hosted by @AarthiVadde.bsky.social.
Students loved the video essay! Probably had one of our best conversations all year.
November 21, 2024 at 10:24 PM
Students loved the video essay! Probably had one of our best conversations all year.
Had an incredible time chatting with the brilliant @knadiminti.bsky.social and @aarthivadde.bsky.social about second person POV, Final Fantasy VII, Afghan oral narratives, and "War on Terror" literature. I could have chatted with them both for hours!
Hosted a great conversation between critic Kalyan Nadiminti and novelist Jamil Jan Kochai on the podcast Novel Dialogue. We talk about writing in the second-person, the post-9/11 novel as literary category, and why playing Final Fantasy VII is good for craft!
noveldialogue.org/2024/11/21/8...
noveldialogue.org/2024/11/21/8...
8.4 All of Our Stories Were War Stories: Jamil Jan Kochai and Kalyan Nadiminti (AV)
Imagine growing up between Sacramento, California and Logar, Afghanistan; you hear stories about war, watch coverage of the United States’ War on Terror on television, and then visit your family in…
noveldialogue.org
November 21, 2024 at 10:21 PM
Had an incredible time chatting with the brilliant @knadiminti.bsky.social and @aarthivadde.bsky.social about second person POV, Final Fantasy VII, Afghan oral narratives, and "War on Terror" literature. I could have chatted with them both for hours!