Khaled Hosseini, author of Kite Runner, signs his book with his name
in English and also a symbol from his native language.  What is the
language, and what does the symbol mean?  You can see pictures of his
autograph inside his book on eBay; if no one currently has a signed
copy for sale with a photograph of the signature, you can search on
completed auctions to see one.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 20 May 2005 17:35 PDT

If you provide a link to the symbol I'd be happy to take a look at it. 

tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by cdprice20-ga on 20 May 2005 19:13 PDT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=377&item=8305977781&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW#ebayphotohosting

this is a link to a picture on ebay

thanks, Carol

Dear CD Price, 

Looks pretty straight forward to me: it is not a "symbol", it is his
name written in Farsi script, which is quite similar to Arabic script.
From right to left (whcih is how this language is written):

That small "egde" on the top is "kh"; 
Then, the next letter, a straight line, is "s"; 
The the small "hill" is "n"; 
And the bowl-shaped ending is "i". 

The points are diactritics, used to mark letters and pronounciation in
these languages.

You could see samples of Persian script here: 
Smilesprod, Persian Tutor
<http://www.smilesprod.com/Peralph.htm> 

Farsi Alphabet
<http://www.wtv-zone.com/harmandmac/gallery/farsi.html> 

Persian Farsi Alefba for Children
<http://www.farsinet.com/farsi/alefba/> (with many writing samples
showing letters connected)

The Persian Alphabet
<http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/9594/farsi.html> 

Omniglot: Persian Alphabet
<http://www.omniglot.com/writing/persian.htm> (with a writing sample
that shows letters connected)

I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it. (I didn't really
employ a search strategy: once I saw the script, I could read that it
was his name, since I've learned Arabic, which has a very similar
script).

Great answer.  I appreciate the simple, straightforward answer and
that you also included "extra information" of sites to visit for a
peek at this alphabet and writing.  It gave me the words to describe
this signature (Farsi script, Arabic, diacritical marks.  Thanks very
much.

You may wish to visit the author's site:

http://www.khaledhosseini.com/

There, you will find a list of contact addresses for his agents. I'm
sure they would probably oblige if you asked them about the author's
signature.

The author was born in Afghanistan. It is highly likely that the
author's native language is Farsi (Persian), although Pashtu is also a
common language in Afghanistan and may also be spoken. (Considering
that Dr. Hosseini's mother taught Farsi, I would go with that choice).

Yes, it looks like Farsi to me, but I only have a couple of books on
caligraphy and no other knowledge of the language.

I have already contacted his agents and I am awaiting a reply.

tutuzdad-ga

Thank you for the rating and the tip!