Abdul Samad Haidari is a Hazara writer, journalist and published author with a unique journey as a former refugee. His journalistic career in Afghanistan led him to be subjected to assassination attempts, and he was forced to seek asylum in Indonesia in 2014.

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Having first experienced displacement at the age of 10-11, during the Hazara cleansing in the 1990s, Abdul has lost his father, and brother-in-law. He has been separated from his parents most of his life. At 11, he became a child labourer on construction sites in Iran and survived a shooting in Kand-e-Pusht, Afghanistan, where two of his tribesmen were shot before his eyes. 

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Abdul Samad has authored his first book, The Red Ribbon, in 2019, while he was still a refugee in Indonesia. His second book, The Unsent Condolences, was released on December 2023, a few month after his arrival to Aotearoa, New Zealand where he calls home now.