Deborah Ellis

{{Infobox writer

| name = Deborah Ellis

| image = Deborah Ellis.jpg

| caption = Deborah Ellis in Renaissance, Florida, 2011.

| birth_name =

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|8|7}}

| birth_place = Cochrane, Ontario, Canada

| death_date =

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|occupation = Writer, activist and feminist.

| genre =

| movement =

| spouse =

| children =

| awards =

| notableworks= {{unbulleted list|Looking for X (1999)|The Breadwinner series (2001–2022)}}

| website =

}}

Deborah Ellis {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|OOnt}} (born August 7, 1960) is a Canadian fiction writer and activist. Her themes are often concerned with the sufferings of persecuted children in the Third World.

Early life

Born in Cochrane Ontario, Ellis and her family moved several times during her childhood due to her parents' work. Ellis started writing when she was 11 or 12 years old.[http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/profiles/ellis.html Profile of Deborah Ellis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215144249/http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/profiles/ellis.html |date=February 15, 2009 }}, University of Manitoba. Accessed October 6, 2012

Career

Much of her work as a writer has been inspired by her travels and conversations with people from around the world and their stories (like the Breadwinner where she went to Afghanistan to meet refugees) . She has held many jobs advocating for the peace movement and the anti-war movement.

She travelled to Pakistan in 1997 to interview refugees at an Afghan refugee camp.[http://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/mai_ellis_deborah.html Meet Deborah Ellis], Children'sLit.org. Accessed October 8, 2012 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030094442/http://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/mai_ellis_deborah.html |date=October 30, 2012 }} From these interviews, she wrote The Breadwinner series, which includes The Breadwinner (2001), a book about a girl named Parvana;[https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2011/mar/10/the-breadwinner-trilogy-review The Breadwinner Trilogy by Deborah Ellis – review], The Guardian. Accessed October 7, 2012[http://www.theliteratemother.org/the-breadwinner-by-deborah-ellis The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227225005/http://www.theliteratemother.org/the-breadwinner-by-deborah-ellis |date=December 27, 2013 }}, The Literate Mother. Accessed October 7, 2012 Parvana's Journey (2002), its sequel;[http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol9/no3/parvanasjourney.html Review of Parvana's Journey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007001111/http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol9/no3/parvanasjourney.html |date=October 7, 2012 }}, CM Magazine, University of Manitoba. Accessed October 7, 2012 Mud City (2003), about Shauzia, Parvana's best friend;[http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol10/no6/mudcity.html Review of Mud City] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209121840/http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol10/no6/mudcity.html |date=February 9, 2013 }}, CM Magazine, University of Manitoba. Accessed October 7, 2012. and My Name is Parvana (2011), the fourth book in the series. While The Breadwinner was inspired by an interview with a mother and a girl who disguised herself as a boy in a refugee camp,[http://www.skokielibrary.info/s_programs/ComingTogether/documents/ctis-authors_speakers.pdf About the authors]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Skokie Public Library, Skokie, Illinois. Accessed October 8, 2012 {{dead link|date=April 2016}} the subsequent books in the series were more imaginative explorations of how children would survive.

In 1999, her novel Looking for X was published. It follows a young girl in her day-to-day life in a poor area of Toronto[http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol6/no11/looking.html Review of Looking for X] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006162900/http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol6/no11/looking.html |date=October 6, 2012 }}, CM Magazine, University of Manitoba. Accessed October 7, 2012 and it received the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature in 2000.[http://www.canadacouncil.ca/NR/rdonlyres/CCA1B1A6-59E5-4748-BFEE-B64313E92624/0/cumulativewinners20091.pdf Governor General's Literature Awards: List of winners] page 24. Accessed October 6, 2012 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514154438/http://www.canadacouncil.ca/NR/rdonlyres/CCA1B1A6-59E5-4748-BFEE-B64313E92624/0/cumulativewinners20091.pdf |date=May 14, 2011 }}

One of her best-known works is the 2004 book The Heaven Shop, which tells of a family of orphans in Malawi who are struggling with sudden displacement as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The novel was written to dispel myths about HIV/AIDS and celebrate the courage of child sufferers.[http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol11/no1/theheavenshop.html Review of The Heaven Shop by CM magazine of the University of Manitoba] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055258/http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol11/no1/theheavenshop.html |date=March 4, 2016 }} Accessed October 6, 2012

In 2006, she wrote the best-seller I Am a Taxi, which tells the story of a Bolivian boy named Diego whose family was accused of smuggling coca paste, which is used to produce cocaine. After an accident causes Diego's family to owe money to the prison in which they are incarcerated, the boy must earn them money. He ends up in the coca "pits" where the leaves of the plant are made into coca paste, and the story follows his adventures from there.[http://www.openbooktoronto.com/books/i_am_taxi_deborah_ellis I am a Taxi by Deborah Ellis] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309150932/http://www.openbooktoronto.com/books/i_am_taxi_deborah_ellis |date=March 9, 2012 }} openbooktoronto.com. Accessed October 7, 2012[http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=5165 Review of I Am a Taxi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330112518/http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=5165 |date=March 30, 2014 }} by the Canada's Magazine of Book News and Reviews, Quill & Quire. Accessed October 7, 2012 The sequel, Sacred Leaf, is about Diego's time with the Ricardos (a family who helped Diego) and a giant coca-leaf protest.[http://www.papertigers.org/reviews/USA/papertigers/SacredLeaf.html Sacred Leaf: The Cocalero Novels] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330111907/http://www.papertigers.org/reviews/USA/papertigers/SacredLeaf.html |date=March 30, 2014 }}, review on papertigers.org. Accessed October 7, 2012

In 2007, with Eric Walters, Ellis wrote Bifocal, a novel about racism and terrorists in Canada.[http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol14/no7/bifocal.html Review of Bifocal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060956/http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol14/no7/bifocal.html |date=March 4, 2016 }}, CM Magazine, University of Manitoba. Accessed October 7, 2012

In 2008, Ellis published Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories, a collection of short stories that explores the lives of children who have been affected, directly or indirectly, by drugs. The stories are set against backdrops as diverse as the remote north of Canada, the Red Square in Moscow, and an opium farm in Afghanistan.[http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol15/no3/lunchwithlenin.html Review of Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007142938/http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol15/no3/lunchwithlenin.html |date=October 7, 2012 }}, CM Magazine, University of Manitoba. Accessed October 7, 2012[http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=6286 Review of Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414002849/http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=6286 |date=April 14, 2014 }} by the Canada's Magazine of Book News and Reviews, Quill & Quire. Accessed October 7, 2012

In 2014, she published Moon at Nine, a YA novel based on the true story of two teenage girls who were arrested and thrown in prison in Iran, a country where homosexuality is punishable by death.

The fifth book in Ellis's Breadwinner series, One More Mountain, was published by Groundwood books in 2022. It takes up Parvana's story as the Americans are leaving Afghanistan and the Taliban are regaining control in Kabul.

Honour

In 2006, Ellis was named to the Order of Ontario.[http://news.ontario.ca/archive/en/2006/12/19/C-O-R-R-E-C-T-I-O-N-from-Source-Ontarioo-Ministry-of-Citizenship-and-Immigration.html Order of Ontario appointments announced 2006] Accessed October 7, 2012 {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20140519072441/http://news.ontario.ca/archive/en/2006/12/19/C-O-R-R-E-C-T-I-O-N-from-Source-Ontarioo-Ministry-of-Citizenship-and-Immigration.html |date=May 19, 2014 }}

Ellis is the recipient of the Governor General's Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award,[http://www.janeaddamspeace.org/jacba/docs/JACBAawards.pdf Previous book award winners] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409192648/http://www.janeaddamspeace.org/jacba/docs/JACBAawards.pdf |date=April 9, 2016 }}, Jane Addams Peace Association, pp. 6–7. Accessed October 7, 2012. the Vicky Metcalf Award for a body of work,[http://www.writerstrust.com/Awards/Vicky-Metcalf-Award-for-Children-s-Literature/Prize-History.aspx Prize History], Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature. Accessed October 7, 2012 an ALA Notable,[http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb/ncbpastlists/2006ncblist 2006 Notable Children's Books], Association for Library Service to Children. American Library Association. Accessed October 7, 2012 and the Children's Africana Book Award Honor Book for Older Readers.[http://www.africaaccessreview.org/aar/awardspastold.html Past Winners, Older Readers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826221743/http://www.africaaccessreview.org/aar/awardspastold.html |date=August 26, 2012 }}, Children's Africana Book Awards. Accessed October 7, 2012

In December 2016, Ellis was named a Member of the Order of Canada.[http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/order-canada-newest-appointees-2016-150-1.3916634 "Order of Canada's newest appointees include Paralympian, Supreme Court judge and astrophysicist"]. CBC News, December 30, 2016.

Personal life

Ellis is a philanthropist, donating almost all of her royalties on her books to such organizations as "Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan" and UNICEF.[http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/profile.cfm?article_id=6395 Article on Quill & Quire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226173558/http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/profile.cfm?article_id=6395 |date=February 26, 2014 }} Accessed on October 6, 2012

Selected bibliography

These are some of the works of Deborah Ellis:[http://www.houseofanansi.com/cw_contributorinfo.aspx?ContribID=52&Name=Deborah+Ellis Page about Deborah Ellis' works] Accessed October 6, 2012 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415113519/http://www.houseofanansi.com/cw_contributorinfo.aspx?ContribID=52&Name=Deborah+Ellis |date=April 15, 2012 }}

The Breadwinner Quintet

The Breadwinner (2001)
Parvana's Journey (2002)
Mud City (2003)
My Name is Parvana (2011)
One More Mountain (2022)

Other Works

Looking for X (1999)
Women of the Afghan War (2000)
A Company of Fools (2002)
The Heaven Shop (2004)
I Am a Taxi (2006)
Click (with David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, and Tim Wynne-Jones, 2007)
Jakeman (2007)
Bifocal (with Eric Walters, 2007)
Sacred Leaf (2007)
Lunch with Lenin|Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories (2008)
Off to War (2008)
We Want You to Know: Kids Talk About Bullying (2009)
No Safe Place (2010)
No Ordinary Day (2011)
True Blue (2011)
Looks Like Daylight: Stories of Indigenous Kids (2013)
The Cat at The Wall (2014)
Moon at Nine (2014)
Sit (2017)

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20100611211633/http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/authors/experts/dellis.asp The Power of One Voice] Interview with Deborah Ellis, The Cooperative Children's Book Center
[http://deborahellis.com/ Personal website]
[https://justimagine.co.uk/podcast/deborah-ellis/ One More Mountain an interview with Deborah Ellis]. Just Imagine Story Centre

{{Governor General's English children's literature|state=collapsed}}

Category:1960 births

Category:20th-century Canadian novelists

Category:20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century Canadian women writers

Category:21st-century Canadian novelists

Category:21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century Canadian women writers

Category:Canadian anti-war activists

Category:Canadian children's writers

Category:Canadian feminist writers

Category:Canadian women novelists