The Muse and the Marketplace kicks off on May 1st at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. In anticipation of the conference, we collected micro-interviews written by authors, agents and editors who will be attending the event. This is the seventh in the series.

Micro-Interview with Qais Akbar Omar, author of A Fort of Nine Towers

1. Activism in literature: should a work of literature serve as a platform for changing the world, or is it better to not mix politics and literature?

Politics creates so much misery and chaos in the world, and it’s up to us as writers to capture all of that. Historians record global events, but their writing can be dry and stiff, so it’s up to creative writers to create a body of literature for everyone to read, understand, and feel connected to the events of the world. Literature and politics work like water and salt. Salt dissolves in water, and I believe politics can be infused in writing for the greater good. Look at how Uncle Tom’s Cabin changed American history.

2. If we came to your house for dinner, what would you prepare?

I would cook a traditional Afghan meal of lamb kabob and qabuli palow. Let me tell you how qabuli palow is made. First, you slice an onion and caramelize it. Then you add lamb and stir-fry it. Next, you add pinches of cumin, cardamom, and turmeric. You add water, and once it boils, you add extra-long grain basmati rice that has been soaked overnight. Next, you add handfuls of pistachios, almonds, and raisins, and perhaps a pinch of saffron.

3. What is the strangest place you’ve ever been?

Las Vegas! Las Vegas is in the middle of a desert, and I know what a desert looks like because I have been to one in Afghanistan. But everything in Las Vegas is so artificial–from the buildings, to roads, and the people.

4. What’s one piece of advice you’d like to give to writers?

Have discipline. Find your writing hours, whether it’s in the morning or evening, and try to write three pages a day no matter what. Read good literature for inspiration.

You can catch Qais’s craft discussion, “Politics and Prose: Tackling the Issues of Our Time through Story,” on Saturday, May 2nd, 10:30 AM, at the Muse. For all the latest Muse news, follow #Muse15.

Qais Akbar Omar (whose first name is pronounced “Kice”) is the author of the internationally acclaimed memoir, A Fort of Nine Towers, which has been published in more than twenty languages. Omar was born in 1982 in Kabul, Afghanistan. He has a BA in journalism from Kabul University. He studied business at Brandeis University and has an MFA in creative writing from Boston University. In 2007, he was a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado. Currently, he is a Scholars at Risk Fellow at Harvard University. For the 2012 anthology, That Mad Game: Growing up in a War Zone, Omar contributed the lead essay, A Talib In Love. He has also written for The Atlantic and The New York Times. He is the coauthor, with Stephen Landrigan, of Shakespeare in Kabul. Omar serves as a goodwill envoy for Aschiana Foundation in Kabul and for the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women. He has lectured on Afghan carpets in Afghanistan, Europe, and the United States.