Afghan Women’s Sport Archive

The Afghan Women’s Sport Archive documents and preserves the history of the women who challenged gender norms and taboos between two Taliban regimes for future generations. The work of documenting Afghanistan’s athletes' history begins with oral histories and witness statements in twenty sports: cycling, football, skiing, snowboarding, climbing/mountaineering, skateboarding, and judo.

An estimated .5% of global recorded history is about women. In Afghanistan, the first Taliban regime systematically destroyed photographs, books, newspapers, and records, reducing access to documented history and, in particular, women’s narratives. Our work is to preserve their history, ensuring that future generations know what they accomplished, why, and how.

This archive will ensure we preserve a rounder, fuller story of who these Afghan women are and the society they were a part of. The Archive project is being hosted at Combat Apathy website and is looking for sponsors and funding partners. You can support it through our crowdfunder here!

A Revolution on Two Wheels

A Revolution on Two Wheels is told through Shannon’s first-hand account of over twenty trips to Afghanistan over a decade, along with the harrowing conversations and messages during the evacuation. Woven throughout the narrative are first-hand stories from interviews with key members of the first generation of Afghan cyclists. Interviews with original national team cyclists like Marjan, bike club founders like Fatima, the co-founders of the first and only women-led bike team in Afghan history, Zahra and Zakia in Bamyan, and with Masomah Alizada, the first Afghan to compete in cycling at the Tokyo Olympics just days before Afghanistan returned to the Taliban, center the cyclists throughout the story. Their stories began in the streets of Kabul and the hills of Bamyan. This is a story of sisterhood, friendship, camaraderie, and joy. Afghan women rarely get opportunities to revel in their joy together publicly, and these cyclists had joy in abundance - more than most. Despite the risks that came with being the first to challenge a deep-seated cultural taboo and doing so while living through an ongoing military occupation and conflict, it was joy that kept them riding, not fear.

This book project is partially completed and has a book proposal for any interested agents or publishers.

Lessons on Rewinding

Lessons on Rewilding tells a story of radical love for the environment and raising children who care for it. It is a mother-daughter adventure story as they traverse five continents to explore our place within the ecosystem, how it's interconnected, and our role as citizens of the world in protecting the planet we call home. It is a first-person memoir based on a 15-month around-the-world journey with a 12-year-old daughter to study wildlife conservation during her 7th-grade school year. Living out of suitcases, they met with scientists, local conservation leaders, wildlife vets, and remote field researchers, interviewing them through the lens of a young person worried about the world's future and wildlife extinction.

This manuscript is written and has a proposal is available for interested agents or publishers.

Endangered Activism Documentary Film

Endangered Activism (working title) is a radical love for the environment and a commitment to raising children who care for it. It is a mother-daughter adventure story as they traverse five continents to explore our place within the ecosystem, how it's interconnected, and the role we all have as citizens of the world to protect the planet we call home. When Devon was four years old, she fell in love with snow leopards. Her love of all things wildlife never faltered, and when she turned twelve, her classroom became a global adventure where she interviewed and learned from the people working to save the world’s wildlife and their habitats from extinction. Her mother and various friends filmed their adventures with wildlife, conservation leaders, and the installation of street art murals. They wrote a graphic novel about a teenage girl and her snow leopard sidekick. Devon, now twenty-one, has since returned to Namibia,  Malawi,, and Costa Rica on her own, working with cheetahs, hyenas, and other rewilding projects. She is studying zoology and wildlife conservation at university in the UK. This documentary aims to inspire parents to let their children explore freely and foster a love for protecting the world around us. This is a project in process.