The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad

Last week, Seierstad learned that she had lost the first legal stage of a literary tussle over her representation of the real-life subject of her bestseller The Bookseller of Kabul, which has fascinated her readers around the world for almost a decade.

But all of this is nothing to the storm Norway's most successful author has gone through in the past few days. Substantial rebuilding work is being done to her house in Oslo and her young son is driving her neighbours to despair every morning with his new drum kit. In three weeks, Åsne Seierstad will give birth to her second child. Equally, the headling – Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of 'betraying' a nation – referred to an accusation by a family member, not a comment by the court (28 July, page 11). We should have made clear this was an allegation made by the plaintiff's side in a case document. The article also said the book's revelations of personal details caused several members of the Afghan family to move to Pakistan and Canada. Contrary to the piece, legal fees were not awarded against Åsne Seierstad and her publisher Cappelen Damm the judge is to rule on fees later. To clarify: the judge did cite negligence, but there was no guilty finding on a charge of negligence, as our phrasing might have implied. The piece also said she was found guilty of 'negligent journalistic practices'. The story said Seierstad was found guilty of defamation, but that was not so: the finding was invasion of privacy. A version of the following correction is due to appear in the Guardian on 14 August 2010Ī story reported on the outcome of a lawsuit lodged in Oslo against Åsne Seierstad, author of The Bookseller of Kabul, by a member of the Afghan family portrayed in the book.

The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad