In March 2004, award-winning Canadian photographer Lana Slezic went to Afghanistan with, in her own words, preconceived notions and a knapsack full of naivety. She believed the ousting of the Taliban in 2001 meant that girls were back at school, women had discarded the burka, and the environment was less oppressive for women.

What Slezic discovered about the truth prompted her to lengthen a six week assignment into a two-year stay. During that time, Slezic travelled quietly and unobtrusively through many regions of Afghanistan, talking to women and girls who were willing to tell her their stories. With its searing stories and heart stopping, full-colour images, Forsaken allows some of these women to speak directly to us, and in the process attempts to redress the imbalance in the conversation.

Lana Slezic was born to Croatian parents in Toronto. She studied photojournalism and interned at the Magnum Photo Agency in New York, then worked on contract for the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star before going freelance. Her clients include the New York Times, Paris Match, National Geographic, The Sunday Times Magazine and a host of others. Forsaken is her first book of photography.

Lana Slezic's profile page

Deborah Ellis is the internationally acclaimed author of more than twenty books for children, including The Breadwinner Trilogy; The Heaven Shop; Lunch With Lenin; Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees; and Our Stories, Our Songs: African Children Talk About AIDS. She has won many national and international awards for her books, including the Governor General’s Award, the Vicky Metcalf Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and the Children’s Africana Book Award Honor Book for Older Readers.Deborah knew she wanted to be a writer at the age of 11 or 12. Growing up in Paris, Ontario, she loved reading about big cities like New York. In high school, Deborah joined the Peace Movement, playing anti-Nuclear War movies at her school. Since then Deborah has become a peace activist, humanitarian and philanthropist, donating almost all of the royalties from her books to communities in need in Asia and Africa. Heavily involved with Women for Women in Afghanistan, Deborah has helped build women’s centers and schools, giving children education and finding work for women.In 2006, Deborah was named to the Order of Ontario. She now lives in Simcoe, Ontario.

Deborah Ellis' profile page

...includes nearly 60 images of Afghan women-some disturbing, others beautiful, almost all evocative in one way or another.

Toronto Star