This fast-paced memoir is a personal account of Smith’s experiences working on the evacuation of Kabul in the heady days following the collapse of the Afghan republic on 15 August 2021.

On return to Australia from Kabul, Smith wrote a 90,000 word first draft of this memoir in a sleepless two-week binge while COVID quarantining in an Adelaide hotel. Two weeks in the writing, two years in the editing, the book sizzles with the rawness of immediate experience while benefiting from the structure of a story well told.

The Sparrows of Kabul is vivid reportage from someone who was there. A dramatic, poignant funny, sad and above all, human account of Australia’s evacuation mission which ultimately managed to extract 4100 vulnerable people from the clutches of the Taliban.

We are left admiring the courage and tenacity of so many Afghan men, women and children who, in a last-ditch dash for freedom, braved the human cattle yards outside the gates of Kabul Airport, as well as the public servants and soldiers who helped them.

The Sparrows of Kabul is the culmination of a remarkably sustained piece of storytelling by a writer regarded by many as a national treasure and the poet of Australia’s Afghanistan experience. The lyrics to Fred’s song Sapper’s Lullaby are engraved in marble at the Australian plot in the centuries old British War Cemetery in Kabul.

It is being published in tandem with the release of the companion album of the same name featuring songs written by Fred after the release of Dust of Uruzgan drawing on his experiences in Afghanistan and reflections on the withdrawal and evacuation.

Praise For Sparrows of Kabul
"In Fred Smith's hands, this vivid account of the evacuation of Kabul is a rare bird; viscerally honest, packed with self-doubt, suffering and grace. Not just the facts but the feelings as the mission saved many but failed others. Profoundly moving.” Hugh Rimington

“…perfectly captures the urgency of contemporary events…combining lightness of tone with seriousness of content and purpose…it works beautifully” Allan Gyngell, AO