The Swan Drowned in the Knife

The Life and Works of Aman Pouyamak

Aman Pouyamak, Afghan writer, poet, and screenwriter, was born in 1980 in Parwan province, north of
Kabul. A graduate in political science, he began his literary journey in 1998 with short stories, later
expanding his creative scope to poetry, theatre, songwriting, and screenwriting. His work is marked by

linguistic inventiveness and social critique, challenging symbolic violence and cultural fractures within
Afghan society.
A prolific author, Pouyamak has published several poetry collections, including The Leopard’s Leap on
the Weight of the Deer, Tic on the Vine’s Pulse, and The Swan Drowned in the Knife, as well as short
story collections such as Free Stone, Free Sparrow and The Unwritten Letter. He is also the author of
plays and novels, including The Field of the Slain, written between 2001 and 2007, and The Semi-Cloudy
Man, begun in Kabul in 2019.
His artistic engagement extends into the audiovisual realm, with screenplays for television series such as
Our Alley, Shirin, and The Bird That Wasn’t One. He was also part of the writing team for The Secrets of
This House, broadcast on Tolo TV in Afghanistan. Pouyamak is the writer and director of the
documentary Someone Like No One, dedicated to the life of Ahmad Zahir, a legendary Afghan singer and
artist.
Active in Afghan media, he has worked as a writer, program designer, and Persian-language content
editor for Radio Azadi. His work has been recognized with several awards, including the Balkh Story
House Prize for Free Stone, Free Sparrow, the Simorgh International Peace Prize, and the Journalists-
Poets Prize in Iran for The Leopard’s Leap on the Weight of the Deer.
Today, Aman Pouyamak lives in exile in France, where he continues his literary and intellectual pursuits
in a new geographical and cultural context. Through his texts, he explores the tensions between
memory, language, and resistance, and follows a literary path that transcends geographic and ideological
borders.