‘All branches of art come from intelligence’ says writer Haidery Woojudi, ‘and this intelligence knows no borders between countries.’ Born in the Pansjir in 1940 to a literate family, he was educated in the works of great poets such as Jalaludin Mohammad Balkhi (Jami) from the Timurud times, indeed the whole of his life has been immersed in literature.

When he was a child there were 95,000 households in the Pansjir but only two schools, and as his was one of the poorest areas the children often curtailed their education to work on the farms. Woojudi was in the 5th grade when he dreamed of a beautiful girl in a garden who invited him to sit by the spring and wait for her. After she climbed over the wall he waited but she never returned. He has followed her since that time. He wrote his first poem about this episode.

After 6th grade he stopped school but continued to read and tried to understand the deeper meaning of the great literature. As a teenager in the 1950s he went to Kabul to visit the great poets of the time. At that time the literary scene was very active and the Society of Poets had just been established in the Ministry of Education. In 1964 he started to work in the Periodicals Section of Kabul Central Library, where he can be contacted today. Numerous poetry magazines were published during this period and in addition to writing for these he also started writing novels.

During Soviet times Woodjudi continued writing to keep the Afghan culture alive. During this period many writers left and took their knowledge and skills with them. ‘The Soviets ruled according to their economic plans and the great thoughts of the past disappeared,’ he says. ‘Students graduated if they had the correct Soviet thoughts. Before, young boys went to the great schools like Habibia High School and studied philosophy, but now the teachers haven’t returned or have lost their skills. The Soviets brought foreign ideas into the country and the Afghans lost control of their own culture.’