Author: Deborah Ellis
Profile: Deborah Ellis is a Canadian writer, author, peace activist and feminist. She was born in Cochrane, Ontario, Canada. Her most notable works are Looking for X (1999) and The Breadwinner series (2001-2011).
During her childhood she moved to different places many times due to the nature of work of her parents. When Deborah was 11 to 12 years old, she made a decision to begin writing.
Her conversations with people, their stories and her travels around the world are presented as a writer in much of her work. Deborah has also taken up a number of jobs advocating for the anti-war movement and the peace movement. In 1997 she travelled to Pakistan to interview refugees at an Afghan refugee camp after which she wrote a number of book series.
As a philanthropist, Deborah Ellis donates almost all of her royalties earned on her books to organizations like UNICEF and ‘Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan’. She has received threats from the Taliban for doing this work.
Writing style: Themes selected by Deborah Ellis are very often concerned with persecuted children belonging to the Third World and their sufferings. She advocates the disenfranchised, most passionately.
Published Texts:
1999 – Looking for X
2000 – Women of the Afghan War
2001 – The Breadwinner
2002 – A Company of Fools
2002 – Parvana’s Journey
2003 – Mud City
2004 – The Heaven Shop
2006 – I Am a Taxi
2007 – Click
2007 – Jakeman
2007 – Bifocal
2007 Sacred Leaf
2008 – Lunch with Lenin/Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories
2008 – Off to War
2009 – We Want You to Know: Kids Talk About Bullying
2010 – No Safe Place
2011 – My Name is Parvana
2011 – No Ordinary Day
2011 – True Blue
2014 – The Cat at the Wall
2014 – Moon at Nine
Awards and Acknowledgements:
2006 – Ellis was named the Order of Ontario
Recipient of the Governor General’s Award
Recipient of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award
Recipient of the Vicky Metcalf Award for a body of work
Recipient of an ALA Notable and the Children’s Africana Book Award Honor Book for Older Readers
2016 – Ellis was named as the Member of the Order of Canada
Ruth Rchwartz Award
Middle East Book Award
Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize
Received the Ontario Library Association’s President Award for Exceptional Achievement