Deborah Ellis

Deborah Ellis

Deborah Ellis (born 7 August 1960) is a Canadian author. Born in Cochrane, Ontario, she had to move several times in her childhood due to her parents' work. Ellis decided to start writing when she was 11-12 years old. When she grew up, her work and writing was mainly done by traveling and talking to others that have problems and documenting down the main things. She started to write her first book, The Breadwinner some time later.

Ellis is an active anti-war activist. She traveled to Afghanistan in 1997 to interview women in refugee camps; from these interviews she wrote the four part series which includes The Breadwinner, a book about a girl named Parvana; Parvana's Journey, its sequel; Mud City, about a girl named Shauzia, Parvana's best friend; and an adult book, Women of the Afghan War. While The Breadwinner was inspired by an interview with a mother in a refugee camp, the subsequent books in the trilogy were more imaginative explorations of how children would survive.

In 1999, her young adult novel Looking for X, which follows a young girl in her day to day life in a poor area of Toronto, Ontario, was published, and received the Governor General's Literary Award.^[1]

Ellis also wrote a book with Eric Walters about the plotted terrorist attacks in Canada. The book is called Bifocal, highlighting two boys and their sides to the story about what happened. Bifocal is a book about racism and rooting terrorists in Canada. One of her best known works is The Heaven Shop which tells of a family of orphans in Malawi, who are struggling with sudden displacement as a result of HIV/AIDS impact. The novel was written to dispel myths about HIV/AIDS and celebrate the courage of child sufferers.

In 2006, Ellis was named to the Order of Ontario.

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 and small town America to Moscow's Red Square and an opium farm in Afghanistan.

Ellis is the recipient of the Governor General’s Award, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, the Vicky Metcalf Award for a body of work, an ALA Notable, and the Children’s Africana Book Award Honor Book for Older Readers.

Considered one of the most popular young adult writers today, Ellis is also a philanthropist, donating almost all of her royalties on her books to such organizations as "Women for Women in Afghanistan" and UNICEF.

Later on, she wrote one of her most recent bestsellers, I Am A Taxi. I Am A Taxi talks about a boy named Diego whose family was framed unfairly for making cocaine. An accident caused Diego's family to owe the prison so much money, that the boy was so guilty he ran to get a job. He ended up in a cocoa pit, and the story follows his adventure from there. The sequel, Sacred Leaf, talks about Diego's time with the Ricardo's (a family who helped Diego) and a giant cocoa leaf protest.

Works

The Breadwinner (2001)
Parvana's Journey
Mud City
Women of the Afghan War
Looking for X (1999)
Bifocal (with Eric Walters)
The Heaven Shop
Off To War
Children of War
A Company of Fools
I Am A Taxi
Sacred Leaf
Lunch with Lenin and Other Short Stories
True Blue (2011)
Each Little Bird That Sings
No Ordinary Day'

References

1. ^ Governor General's Literature Awards: List of winners

External links

• http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/profiles/ellis.html
• Deborah Ellis' page on her publisher's website
• Deborah Ellis' page on the Fitzhenry & Whiteside Publishers' website
• Article in Quill & Quire
• Review of The Heaven Shop by University of Mantioba's CM magazine

Persondata
Name	Ellis, Deborah
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Date of birth	7 August 1960
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