Afghan-Dutch Author Forugh Karimi Wins Dutch Booksellers Award 2026

Afghan-born Dutch writer Farogh Karimi has won the 2026 Dutch Booksellers Award for her novel “I Carry Clouds in My Eyes.”

Organisers announced Thursday that Karimi’s novel, selected by a jury of booksellers, was chosen as this year’s standout Dutch-language work.

The jury described the book as “urgent, heartbreaking and carefully structured,” praising Karimi for giving voice to refugees through a powerful and compelling narrative.

The novel, her third work of fiction, follows Vida, a psychiatrist who fled Kabul at 15 and rebuilt her life in the Netherlands.

The Dutch Booksellers Award is presented annually to an original Dutch-language book that booksellers believe deserves a wider readership across the country.

For the first time, the prize includes €5,000 in cash in addition to a nationwide promotional campaign and a special edition release.

Karimi was born in Kabul in 1971 and left Afghanistan in 1996 at the age of 25 due to war, later seeking refuge in the Netherlands.

Karimi’s win highlights the growing recognition of Afghan diaspora voices in European literature and the enduring power of refugee stories.

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