Roberta Staley, 2019 Book Award Winner

Roberta Staley is a Vancouver-based, independent magazine editor, writer, columnist, documentary filmmaker and author. Voice of Rebellion – How Mozhdah Jamalzadah Brought Hope to Afghanistan is her first book.

Her freelance work over the past few years has focused on gender and human rights in conflict or post-conflict zones around the globe. Staley's international reportage recently has included gender-based violence and connections to witchcraft and illegal logging in Papua New Guinea as well as stories from El Salvador, Haiti, Colombia, Cambodia, South Africa, Israel and New Zealand.

Roberta's winning book chapter titled Making Television History is from her book Voice of Rebellion – How Mozhdah Jamalzadah Brought Hope to Afghanistan. The book was published by Greystone Books in October 2019.

The book is the story of how Mozhdah Jamalzadah, who came to Canada as a refugee when she was five, became a renowned singer and later returned to Afghanistan to host her own television show. Through music and creativity, she used the show to skillfully confront issues in Afghanistan relating to the societal dysfunction wrought by three decades of war. Though she faced hostility and violence as well as adoration for her efforts, she continued to address important issues such as violence against women and child abuse.

Roberta is the winner of a number of awards in the areas of film, writing and editing including: Best Feature Article: Magazine, Long Format, 2019 - Associated Church Press, the A.C. Forrest Memorial Award 2019 - Canadian Church Press, Best Foreign Documentary, 2018 - Artemis Women in Action Film Festival and Best Canadian Documentary, 2017 - Female Eye Film Festival. She has also won three Western Magazine Awards Foundation awards and garnered awards for editing including six years in a row for Trade Magazine of the Year in Western Canada.

Roberta has an MA in Liberals Studies From Simon Fraser University and is currently the contract editor of the financial magazine Enterprise. She previously edited the science magazine, the Canadian Chemical News and teaches magazine writing at Douglas College in New Westminster, BC.

@RobertaStaley
robertastaley.ca
Greystone Books
Book available here