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SHANNON GALPIN discusses her memoir: MOUNTAIN TO MOUNTAIN: A JOURNEY OF ADVENTURE AND ACTIVISM FOR THE WOMEN OF AFGHANISTAN

Mountain to Mountain: A Journey of Adventure and Activism for the Women of Afghanistan (St. Martin's Press)

Shannon Galpin didn’t travel to Afghanistan with plans to ride her bike. The thought didn’t cross her mind until her fourth trip there, in 2009, when she decided to bring her tangerine Niner 29er singlespeed with her across the ocean. Shortly after her arrival, in a remote village in the heart of the Panjshir mountains, Galpin rode her bike down a mountainside. It was the first time any woman had mountain biked in Afghanistan.

In her “inspiring and illuminating”* debut memoir, Mountain to Mountain (St. Martin’s Press), Galpin, National Geographic’s 2013 Adventurer of the Year, recounts leaving her career and selling her house to launch her nonprofit, Mountain2Mountain, which works to create opportunities for women in regions of conflict. Mountain2Mountain would ultimately lead her to commit her life to empowering the women of war-torn Afghanistan and using her bike as a vehicle for social change in a country where women don’t have the right to ride one.

A single mother living in Breckenridge, Colorado, Galpin’s path to activist is an unusual one. She originally set out to become a modern dancer, skipping college to join the Zenon Dance Company in Minneapolis. It wasn’t until 2006, after reading books by John Wood, Rory Stewart and Jacqueline Novogratz, the desire to invest in women took hold of her, and never let go.

Galpin’s passion for Afghanistan and its women is evident throughout her memoir, most profoundly so when she visits the country’s women’s prisons. There, she encounters women in jail for ‘adultery,’ women who attempted to escape arranged marriages after being raped. In these women, Galpin sees herself. In perhaps “the most poignant, heart-pumping pages” of her memoir, she shares the story of her own rape, citing it as the reason she decided to devote her life to the women of Afghanistan.

When Galpin learns of a team of Afghan women cyclists, her excitement is palpable. “The young women who dare to ride their bikes are pedaling a revolution,” she says. “They train on some of the most dangerous highways in the world, in a country where their existence is a challenge to the status quo.” By providing them with bikes and equipment, Galpin’s proved herself an instrumental force in bringing cycling to these women who dare to ride. Together, Galpin and the Afghan women cyclists are breaking cultural taboos, while showing Afghans, and the world, their incredible strength and power.

Praise for Mountain to Mountain

“Shannon Galpin’s lovely cycling saga is an inspiring and illuminating window into the lives of modern day Afghan women and their continuing struggle to ride their own path to freedom, recognition, and equality.”—Khaled Hosseini, New York Times bestselling author of The Kite Runner and And The Mountains Echoed

“Full of vivid anecdotes, the narrative is most enjoyable when recounting the author’s chronicles of her travel and interactions with Afghans…her respect and love for the Afghan people is apparent, as are her nerve and determination to help those in need…an inspiring personal story of an American mountain biker finding her vocation as an international activist.”—Kirkus Reviews

“…an inspiring look at how one woman can become a pioneering voice for women’s equality.”—Bicycling Magazine

“Shannon makes Afghanistan come alive on a personal level no news story can ever replicate…The most poignant, heart-pumping pages are when Shannon shares her own deepest darkest secret. This book is a winner…and so is Shannon.”—Rita Golden Gelman, author of Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

“Readers seeking inspiration on how they can make a difference in the world will find it here…combined with a bit of luck, humor, and the strength to find a way to make dreams—yours and others—begin to come true."—Booklist

Shannon Galpin is the founder and president of Mountain2Mountain, a nonprofit organization focused on helping women and children in Afghanistan. Her humanitarian efforts have been profiled on Dateline NBC, CNN, and in The New York Times, Outside Magazine, National Geographic Explorer, and USA Today, among others. Shannon is also the co-creator and producer of a full length documentary, Afghan Cycles, about the Afghan National Women’s Cycling Team. It will premiere in winter 2016 and tour the film festival circuit. On August 30, Shannon invited cyclists to take to their wheels as part of the Global Solidarity Ride, a worldwide event she helped organize to support the women of Afghanistan who dare to ride. For more information, visit her online at http://shannongalpin.com/ or @sgalpin and @Mtn2Mtn.

Photo by Deni Bechard

Event date: 
Sunday, March 1, 2015 - 5:00pm
Event address: 
1818 N Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Mountain to Mountain: A Journey of Adventure and Activism for the Women of Afghanistan By Shannon Galpin Cover Image
$26.99
Possibly out of print. Email or call to check availability and price.
ISBN: 9781250046642
Published: St. Martin's Press - September 16th, 2014

Streets of Afghanistan: Bridging Cultures through Art By Shannon Galpin, Libero Di Zinno (Photographs by) Cover Image
By Shannon Galpin, Libero Di Zinno (Photographs by)
$40.00
Possibly out of print. Email or call to check availability and price.
ISBN: 9781578264674
Published: Hatherleigh Press - October 29th, 2013