“Nothing Good Happens in Wazirabad on Wednesday,” the debut novel by Jamaluddin Aram ’17, has been released by Scribner Canada.
Jamaluddin Aram '17 (Photo by Abdullah Tawakoli)
A resident of Toronto, Aram has penned a number of short stories and essays focused on themes of family, immigration, childhood and peace in a time of war in his native Kabul, Afghanistan.
His kaleidoscopic novel is set in the early 1990s in Kabul’s working class neighborhood of Wazirabad, where everyday life roars through the winding alleys despite the ongoing civil war.
The assorted characters include 15-year-old Aziz and his family, along with the Baker, the Watchmaker, the Tailor, the Vegetable Seller, the Bonesetter who reads poetry to his cat, a trio of militiamen and a flaming red rooster that walks three blocks to visit his favorite hens each day at noon.
Aram’s works have appeared in Numero Cinq, The Write Launch, Cagibi and The New Quarterly literary magazines. In 2020, Aram’s short story, “This Hard Easy Life,” was a finalist for the prestigious Royal Bank of Canada’s Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers.
His recent opinion piece, “In the heart of the heart of the Afghan conflict,” is one of several that have appeared in The Globe and Mail.
At Union, Aram majored in English and history, and he was active in the French and film clubs. He is the associate producer of the Academy Award-nominated film Buzkashi Boys.