[an error occurred while processing this directive]TIME: What motivated you to write about the life of children in Afghanistan?
Ellis: I'd been doing solidarity work with women in Afghanistan for a couple of
years back in Canada and I was in Pakistan interviewing women for an adult non-
fiction book called 'Women of the Afghan War'. I met a woman whose daughter was in
Kabul doing what the girl in the novel does, masquerading as a boy to earn a
living for her family, and I thought that would make a really interesting
children's novel.
TIME: Was the family that you based the story on new arrivals or had they been in
the camps for some time?
Ellis: The woman had just come out of Afghanistan for a few days to attend an
international women's rally. She'd been smuggled out by one of the women's
organizations that operate secretly inside the country and she had to go back
into Kabul the day after I met with her.
TIME: Do you maintain contact with that woman or anyone else you met from the
camps?
Ellis: No, I wasn't able to maintain contact with most of the women. They spoke to
me only on the condition of anonymity. I know the mother was very worried about
what was going to happen to the daughter once she was no longer able to
masquerade as a boy and had to be kept inside like the other women in
Afghanistan. She thought that it would be terribly difficult for the child to
get used to after being able to run through the streets in Kabul freely.
TIME: The story that you wrote is fairly graphic and realistically portrays the
life of women in Afghanistan. How is it possible to get that suffering, that
life across in a children's novel without disturbing the children that you're
writing for?
Ellis: I'm not terribly worried about disturbing the children that I'm writing for.
I think that good writing should be disturbing and if you're lucky you're able
to pull it off well. I wrote the book because I wanted to pay tribute and honor
to the children who are involved in that situation. Children live in very
dangerous situations in many parts of the world and I wanted kids in North
America to know what was going on in Afghanistan and what other children were
living through.
TIME: How would you tell parents how to explain to their children what life is like
in Afghanistan?
Ellis: I don't think that parents would be doing any favors to them by not talking
about it. I think they should explain to them that when we allow our governments
to go to war, this is the kind of thing that results from it. They should know
about that because they're going to be decision-makers very soon.
TIME: Has what's happened over the past two months in Afghanistan changed your
conception of the book? Is there anything you wish you could have done
differently?
Ellis: No, I think the book is a strongly anti-war book, which is why I wrote it and
I think the message still stands, now even more so because of the bombing.
TIME: The Breadwinner is poised to be very successful. How are you reacting to
that?
Ellis: I'm surprised to be published at all, frankly. I'm really glad that it's
going to be successful because the money that the book raises is going back into
education programs for children in Afghanistan, so the more people who buy the
book the more money that will be available and the more kids who can go to
school.
TIME: What's next for you?
Ellis: I'm just finishing a sequel to 'The Breadwinner'. That'll be done in a couple
of weeks, and I've got children's books outlined that will take me until the end
of the summer. After that, we'll see.
TIME: What is the sequel to 'The Breadwinner' going to be about?
Ellis: It follows the two girls as they continue on their different journeys, one
further into Afghanistan to look for her mother and the other girl as she leaves
the country and becomes a refugee in Pakistan and tries to get to the ocean.
TIME: What are your hopes for the people of Afghanistan?
Ellis: Throughout history, aerial bombing has never helped a situation so I think
that's going to make things worse. I think we have a very small window of
opportunity here should the Taliban regime fall to put in a government that's
going to be decent, but the only way that's going to happen is if women are
brought to the negotiating table in a very large and meaningful way. At the
moment there are no women on the loya jirga that's trying to form in exile and
that's a huge mistake. There are competent, educated, amazing Afghan women
around the world living in exile who need to be brought back and have their
voices heard and they need to be making policy. The men in Afghanistan and the
men in the surrounding countries and all the men in all the countries that have
had an influence in Afghanistan have proven time and time again that they do not
have the best interests of the people at heart. They need to step aside so that
the women can have a role. If that happens, I have hope for the country. If not,
I don't have any hope.
TIME: Will the people of Afghanistan demand this themselves or will it have to be
imposed on them?
Ellis: I certainly think that the women around the world need to put pressure on our
own governments to make sure that it happens. We have a chance to do that now
and we have to do our best to ensure that it happens.