Afghan Women’s Voices Preserved Through New APT Publication

We’re happy to share a compendium of booklets by Afghans for Progressive Thinking (APT), bringing forward Afghan women’s voices through personal narratives, poetry, letters, and short stories.

The publication compiles letters, journal entries, poems, and fictional and non-fictional stories written by Afghan girls and women, offering a powerful and intimate account of daily life under growing restrictions. Through these writings, contributors reflect on loss, resilience, hope, and their aspirations for the future - at a time when women’s voices and spaces for expression in Afghanistan continue to shrink.

Drawing on over a decade of engagement supporting Afghan youth through education and human rights advocacy, APT has created this collection as both an act of preservation and resistance. By documenting lived experiences in women’s own words, the publication seeks to ensure that their stories are not erased, silenced, or forgotten.

The compendium of booklets are: 

• Journals of Girls in Afghanistan;
• Non-Fiction Narratives of Girls in Afghanistan;
• Poem & Letters from Girls in Afghanistan;
• Fiction (Short Stories) from Girls in Afghanistan.

Together, these contributions underscore the importance of locally led storytelling as a form of agency, memory, and advocacy. They also serve as a reminder of the critical role civil society plays in amplifying voices that are otherwise excluded from public discourse and policy spaces.

CSPPS commends APT for this important initiative and for its continued commitment to supporting Afghan women and youth. The publication stands as a testament to courage, creativity, and the enduring power of words in the face of repression.