Deborah Rodriguez (writer)

{{Infobox writer

| name = Deborah Rodriguez

| image = Deborah Rodriguez 2.jpg

|birth_name=Deborah Rodriguez

| nationality = American

| occupation = Novelist, hairdresser

| period = 2007–present

| genre = Non-fiction, biography/autobiography, memoir, realistic fiction

| subject =

| movement =

| notableworks = Kabul Beauty School

| website = {{URL|deborahrodriguez.com}}

}}

Deborah "Debbie" Rodriguez is an American writer, hairdresser, and humanitarian. She is noted for creating safe spaces that provide women with a way out of domestic violence and chaotic circumstances.

Biography

In 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of a group offering aid after the fall of the Taliban. There, she helped found a beauty school that trained 200 women in the art of hairdressing, many of whom went on to run their own salons, giving them the opportunity to start their own business and provide for their families. She later opened a coffee shop in Kabul.{{cite web|url=http://www.mprnews.org/story/2011/01/25/rodriguez| title=Lessons from a war-zone coffee shop| work=Minnesota Public Radio| first=Euan|last= Kerr| date=2014-01-20| accessdate=2011-01-03}}{{cite web |last=Caviezel |first=Mark |title='They're Afraid': Kabul Beauty School Cofounder Details Her Harrowing Attempt To Help Evacuate Afghan Women |website=Citizens Journal |date=2021-08-25 |url=https://www.citizensjournal.us/theyre-afraid-kabul-beauty-school-cofounder-details-her-harrowing-attempt-to-help-evacuate-afghan-women/ |access-date=2022-01-14 |archive-date=2022-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114175301/https://www.citizensjournal.us/theyre-afraid-kabul-beauty-school-cofounder-details-her-harrowing-attempt-to-help-evacuate-afghan-women/ |url-status=dead }}

In 2002, Rodriguez married an Afghan, Samer (Sam) Mohammad Abdul Khan, who worked for Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. At the time he had a wife in Saudi Arabia, who became pregnant with his eighth child while he was married to Rodriguez. The marriage with Rodriguez was reported as a happy one as late as April 2007,{{cite web| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/3360000/People-looked-at-me-like-I-had-three-heads.-You-could-see-them-thinking-Shes-as-crazy-as-a-loon.-And-its-true-that-I-had-no-idea-what-I-was-doing.html| archive-url=https://archive.today/20130421073851/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/3360000/People-looked-at-me-like-I-had-three-heads.-You-could-see-them-thinking-Shes-as-crazy-as-a-loon.-And-its-true-that-I-had-no-idea-what-I-was-doing.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=2013-04-21| title=People looked at me like I had three heads. You could see them thinking 'She's as crazy as a loon.' And it's true that I had no idea what I was doing|work=The Daily Telegraph| date=2007-04-29| accessdate=2009-10-03}} but soon after, she had to flee Afghanistan.

Rodriguez wrote two bestselling books based on her experiences in Afghanistan, The Kabul Beauty School and The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, as well as Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul.{{cite web| url=http://www.randomhouse.com.au/blog/top-10-australian-bestsellers-of-2013-1969.aspx| title=Top 10 Australian Bestsellers of 2013| publisher=Random House Australia| date=2014-01-22| accessdate=2014-03-24}}{{cite web| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/27/bestselling-print-books-2013| title=Bestselling books of 2013: the chart| work=The Guardian| date=2014-01-22| accessdate=2014-03-24}}{{cite web| url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10634299 | title=Subjects of 'Kabul Beauty School' Face New Risks| publisher=NPR| first=Soraya Sarhaddi|last=Nelson|authorlink=Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson| date=2007-06-01| accessdate=2009-10-03}} At one point, Kabul Beauty School was slated to become a movie, with Sandra Bullock playing the lead.

As of 2014, Rodriguez lives in Mazatlán, Mexico, where she is the owner of Tippy Toes Salon and Marrakesh Spa, and where she established Project Mariposa, providing funding for young women to attend beauty school, with the goal of helping them become independent and self-supporting. Margarita Wednesdays (The House on Carnaval Street), a book detailing her journey to remake her life after being forced to leave Afghanistan, was released in June 2014.{{cite web| url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4767-1066-2| title=Margarita Wednesdays: A Memoir| work=Publishers Weekly| date=2014-03-10 | accessdate=2014-03-24}} Her other books include the novels The Zanzibar Wife,https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-zanzibar-wife-9780857988355 Island on the Edge of the World{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguin.com.au/books/island-on-the-edge-of-the-world-9780143793601|title=Island on the Edge of the World by Deborah Rodriguez|website=www.penguin.com.au}} and The Moroccan Daughter.{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-moroccan-daughter-9780143793632|title=The Moroccan Daughter by Deborah Rodriguez|website=www.penguin.com.au}}

As of 2021, Rodriguez has been working to help 130 Afghans, including former staff and beauty school students, leave Afghanistan.{{Cite web|url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1481640/Afghanistan-women-taliban-news-latest|title=Afghanistan: The women helping to save the girls the West has left behind|first=Kat|last=Hopps|date=August 25, 2021|website=Express.co.uk}} As the president of the non-profit Oasis Rescue, she is raising money to support efforts for Afghans who are seeking to leave the country, as well as those who have left and find themselves in need.{{Cite web|url=https://mexicodailypost.com/2021/09/10/debby-rodriguez-from-mazatlan-helps-rescue-afghans-fleeing-the-taliban-regime/|title=Debby Rodriguez From Mazatlán helps rescue Afghans fleeing the Taliban regime -|first=M. D. P.|last=Newsroom|date=September 10, 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.noroeste.com.mx/mazatlan/desde-mazatlan-debby-ayuda-a-rescatar-a-afganos-que-huyen-del-regimen-taliban-LY1375148|title = Desde Mazatlán, Debby ayuda a rescatar a afganos que huyen del régimen talibán}}

Some controversy followed the publishing of Kabul Beauty School. Other women who were also involved at the founding of the Kabul Beauty School say the book is filled with inaccuracies and inconsistencies, that events did not unfold the way Rodriguez depicts them. Though it was acknowledged that some personal, place and organization names were changed in the book, and some chronological details adjusted.{{cite web| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/fashion/29kabul.html| title=Shades of Truth: An Account of a Kabul School Is Challenged | work=The New York Times| first=Abby|last=Ellin|authorlink=Abby Ellin| date=2007-04-27| accessdate=2009-10-03}} Some of the women who worked at the beauty school said that, because of the publication of the book and the details it revealed about them, their lives had been put in danger. Some also claimed that Rodriguez had not made good on promises for financial support and other help. However, Rodriguez claims that she was careful to protect the identities of the women mentioned in the book, and that they were all enthusiastic about telling their stories knowing that was the case.{{cite web| url=http://www.afghanembassyjp.com/en/news/102| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408215752/http://www.afghanembassyjp.com/en/news/102| url-status=usurped| archive-date=April 8, 2014| title='Kabul Beauty School' offers inspiration for women| publisher=Embassy of Afghanistan| date=2007-04-01| accessdate=2014-03-24}}

Farewell to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul was longlisted in 2025 for the International Dublin Literary Award.{{Cite web |last=IGO |date=2025-01-14 |title=Farewell to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul |url=https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/the-library/books/farewell-to-the-little-coffee-shop-of-kabul/ |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=Dublin Literary Award |language=en-US}}

Publications

=Non-fiction=

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil (1 January 2007, Hodder: {{ISBN|9780340935880}})
Margarita Wednesdays: Making a New Life by the Mexican Sea (10 June 2014, Gallery Books: {{ISBN|9781476710679}}) (published as The House on Carnaval Street in some countries)

=Fiction=

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul (2012, Sphere: {{ISBN| 978-0751550405}})
Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul (2016, Sphere: {{ISBN|978-0751561463}})
The Zanzibar Wife (2018, Sphere: {{ISBN|978-0751561487}})
Island on the Edge of the World (2019, Sphere: {{ISBN|9780751574586}})
The Moroccan Daughter (2021, Bantam: {{ISBN|9780143793625}}){{cite web | title=The Moroccan Daughter by Deborah Rodriguez | website=Penguin Books Australia | url=https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-moroccan-daughter-9780143793625 | access-date=2021-12-16}}
Farewell to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul (2023, Sphere, {{ISBN|978-1408728093}})