johansson was known in his native sweden as an eponymous novelist and a zealous reformer against racism . but before he died of a hearts attack at age 50 in 2004 , he leaves home the novels of three books that should transform his heritage . his first album , the girl with the tiger skin , was published in sweden a time after his death and was already an international success when it was released in the associated states last year by howard a knopf . more than 6 billions copies of the book have been sold worldwide . an international study based on good - seller lists in the united states , britain , norway , germany , sweden , italy , spain and bulgaria ranked larsson the second most successful english writer in 2008 after khaled jalali , author of the sky runners and a fifty splendid moths .
"The Kite Runner" was written by Khaled Hosseini.