Canadian War Museum Book Club: Nelofer Pazira

Canadian War Museum Book Club: Nelofer Pazira

Ottawa, Ontario, September 18, 2007 — On September 27, the CWM Book Club is proud to present an evening with author, journalist, filmmaker and human rights activist Nelofer Pazira. A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan is her personal and intimate memoir of growing up in Afghanistan in the 1970s.

A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan is a moving and remarkable story that chronicles the tragedies that have plagued Afghanistan for the last thirty years. The book begins in the mid-seventies when Pazira is 5 years old and her father, a doctor, has been imprisoned when the Communists take power. The following year, Russia invades Afghanistan, making it a police state and creating a climate of violence and fear. Pazira is forced to grow up fast and joins the resistance when she is a teenager. ­Her only solace is her friendship with Dyana, with whom she shares a love of poetry and hope for a better life. Eventually, Pazira¹s family escapes to Pakistan and finally settles in Canada where Pazira becomes a journalist and award-winning filmmaker. She continues to write to Dyana; but when the correspondence abruptly stops, Pazira fears for Dyana’s life and returns to Afghanistan, now under Taliban control, to search for her friend. A Bed of Red Flowers is an unforgettable story about family and friendship and the hardships and sacrifices that so many have faced through Afghanistan’s long years of war.

The CWM Book Club is an opportunity for participants to spend an intimate and informal evening discussing recent books with their authors. The admission fee includes wine and cheese.

WHAT: CWM Book Club: Nelofer Pazira’s A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan
WHERE: Atelier B, Canadian War Museum
WHEN: Thursday, September 27 at 6 p.m. (in English)
COST: $10 (includes wine and cheese)

Vintage Canada describes Ms. Pazira as a journalist, filmmaker and human rights activist living in Toronto. In 2001, she starred in the film Kandahar, which was loosely based on her journey to find a friend living in Afghanistan. Two years later she co-directed and produced the Gemini Award-winning documentary Return to Kandahar.

To reserve space for the evening, please contact the Museum’s call centre at 819-776-7000 or purchase your tickets at the Museum box office.

About the Canadian War Museum
The Canadian War Museum is the national museum of military history. It attempts to help all Canadians better understand their country’s military history in its personal, national and international dimensions. The Museum emphasizes the human experience of war to explain the impact of organized human conflict on Canada and Canadians, and how, through war, conflict, and peace support operations, Canadians have affected, and have been affected by, the world around them. Special exhibitions and programs also explore non-Canadian and general themes related to the human experience of war and the subject of armed conflict, past and present.

Information (media):

Christina Selin
Manager, Communications
Canadian War Museum
Telephone: 819 776-8607
E-mail: christina.selin@warmuseum.ca.

Pierre Leduc
Media Relations Officer
Canadian War Museum