This year, in honor of San Mateo County’s sesquicentennial, the libraries of San Mateo County invite you to join together to read and discuss The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner has received both critical and popular acclaim and juxtaposes topics of wide concern, such as Afghan politics and culture, political refugees and immigration, against a gripping coming-of-age story.

The following are special events that will be held at the College of San Mateo. Other events are also being held at other San Mateo County libraries.

	Monday, October 16, 5 PM – 7 PM CSM Choral Room Screening of The Beauty Academy of Kabul In this moving and sometimes comic documentary, a group of American hairdressers head to Afghanistan to open the country's first post-Taliban beauty school. Beauty Club benefactor Rosemary Stasek will introduce the film.
	Tuesday, October 17, 12 PM – 1 PM Gallery Room (Building 5) Students, staff, and faculty are invited to discuss and debate Khaled Hosseini’s moving and provocative novel, The Kite Runner.
	Thursday, October 19, 10 AM – 11 AM CSM Theatre Barbara Petzen, Outreach Coordinator at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, will give a lecture on The Relations and Perceptions Between the Islamic World and the West. (Petzen will also lead a question-and-answer session with Khaled Hosseini at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center at 8:00.)
	Friday, October 27, 8 PM CSM Theatre Ballet Afsaneh This Afghan women's troupe will bring to life the history, poetry and music of Afghanistan through dance. Although dance is rarely performed in a theatrical context in present-day Afghanistan, music and dance are a vital part of the Afghan culture and an important part of every happy occasion. “Dancers sweep across the stage, arms linked, barely seeming to touch the floor … commanding the stage.” (S.F. Examiner)