Renowned Canadian author Deborah Ellis talks “One More Mountain”, her new Breadwinner novel, with SesayArts

Whether they’re reading her fiction or nonfiction, readers can depend on writer Deborah Ellis to inspire and provoke. And her most recent book One More Mountain (Groundwood Books) illustrates this truth perfectly. The ultra-current newest installment in the beloved and acclaimed Breadwinner series takes place in 2021, as the Taliban regain power in Afghanistan. 

The series-launching The Breadwinner (2000) has become a global bestseller. It has been translated into 30 languages and was adapted as an animated film (2017) with a screenplay by Ellis and Anita Doron that was directed by Nora Twomey. The film became a The New York Times Critic’s pick and earned an Academy-Award nomination for Best Animated Film. Ellis then adapted it as a graphic novel in 2018.

The publication of the fifth book in this series is momentous news – and not just because there has not been a new Breadwinner book in over a decade. The sudden and harrowing takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2021 prompted Ellis to write One More Mountain – with the hope that readers stay focused on the inevitable ongoing suppression of Afghan girls and women.  One More Mountain presents the ongoing struggle for equality and peace as it passes to the next generation of Afghans.

Many parents and teachers who read the first Breadwinner book upon its release 20 years ago went on to read it to their children or students. For these readers, One More Mountain is especially exciting because it features the characters from The Breadwinner as adults.  Protagonists Parvana and Shauzia must now flee to escape new dangers from an old enemy. Their dilemma of whether to remain in Afghanistan or leave raises new questions and should prompt readers in North America to consider our responsibility to this weary and war-torn country. 

In this book, as in its predecessors, Ellis does not skirt around the stark realities of the Taliban’s violently oppressive regime – especially the ugly consequences for girls and women. In fact, the enduring appeal of the series is rooted in Ellis’ ability to put complex, fraught and unsettling ideas into language that is so gripping – yet so simple – that they land like a gut punch, then linger in the psyche.  And though the book’s characters are on the far side of the world, their desperate quest to meet their most basic needs – sufficient food, a safe place to live, and friendship – will resonate with every reader.

One More Mountain will satisfy and engross brand-new, as well as longtime fans of the series. And it will also be a vehicle for continuing Ellis’ longtime activism. Even before its release, she had donated more than $2 million in royalties to organizations such as Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, Mental Health Without Borders, the UNHCR and the Children in Crisis fund of IBBY. And she will donate her entire author royalties to One More Mountain to the not-for-profit organization Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan).  

So far, Ellis has published over 30 books. Among her awards and honours are the Governor General’s Award, the Middle East Book Award, the Peter Pan Prize, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award. But most children (including a grade 5 class in a Toronto public school that recently devoured The Breadwinner) assess her as simply “an amazing writer”.  

Following the release of One More Mountain, SesayArts spoke with the author about the challenge of writing the book, the impact of her humanitarian efforts, and her reading recommendations. In person as in her writing, Ellis is warm, direct and compelling, making it easy to see why her books resonate so strongly that they have become staples of children’s literature.  

SM: One More Mountain was a delightful surprise, both as a story and as another book in the Breadwinner series. I didn’t know about it until I received the press release for it. What prompted you to write this book after 10 years?

DE: I wrote One More Mountain first and foremost to raise more money for the folks in Afghanistan.  I started writing it soon after the Taliban take-over – like many people around the world I felt helpless to do something to stop it, and heartbroken over what the women and men there are going through, so many hopes and dreams just ended by these men and their policies.  The other reason I wrote it is that world events move very quickly and are also so quickly forgotten.  A novel can be sort of like an historical document.  I want us to remember what we do to other people, and that we have the ability to do better.

SM: One More Mountain is a wonderful, gripping and sometimes difficult read. Were any parts of it difficult for you to write? 

DE: What was hard to write in One More Mountain?  The whole thing.  The fact of needing to write it was hard, but nothing compared to what people were and are experiencing on the ground.  Although it was a delight to be back with those characters, it was also important to have the story reflect what was happening and not shy away from the pain of it.

SM: You are donating 100% of the royalties from the book to the not-for-profit organization Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan). And this is not the first time or only time you have done such a thing…You have been donating your author royalties for a long time. Would you like to speak a little about what your donations have accomplished so far?

DE: A number of years ago, I was able to go inside Afghanistan (I’d only been in the refugee communities in Pakistan up to that point) and see some of the projects the Parvana books had funded.  Great things like homes for children whose moms were in prison and had lived in the prison until the homes opened.  Places for girls who had escaped forced marriages or abusive marriages.  Teacher training, adult literacy, all kinds of cool stuff.  With other books, too, like No Ordinary Day, about people affected by leprosy – the money did much more than I would be able to do on my own.

SM: I will be reading The Breadwinner with my students in the new year. The graphic novel version is in constant demand by my students, and the same is true for the film. Does the abiding resonance of the story and the series with young readers surprise you at all?

DE: Children – and adults – all need courage in their daily lives, and we are drawn to stories of courage to try to bolster our own.  Parvana is about an ordinary kid called upon to do extraordinary things in order to keep her family fed.  I think kids can see themselves in her story.

SM: What authors and books are you reading right now that you would recommend?

DE: I just finished The Wrong End of the Telescope  by Rabih Alameddine – awesome.  Also devoured The World Record Book of Racist Stories by  Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar – very funny, very enlightening, very scary, very disappointing to find that we white people are still so ignorant, and very thought-provoking.  Also just finished Sometimes You Have to Lie  by Leslie Brody, a biography of Louise Fitzhugh who wrote Harriet the Spy.  When I was a kid, I knew Louise was a friend. I didn’t know how much of a friend she was until I read this book.

SM: I read an interview you gave in which you said that you love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. When I read it the first time, I slowed down as I was nearing the end because I realized I wouldn’t ever have the pleasure of reading it for the first time again. Have you had this experience with certain books – if so, what are they?

DE: Books I didn’t want to end  (like A Tree Grows In Brooklyn)? My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, and Bless the Beasts and Children by Glendon Swarthout.  Also An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine.  

SM: What question do you wish I had asked you that I didn’t (and what is the answer)?

 DE: Am I still hopeful?  Answer – yes, but some days I have to really work at it.

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2023