Melody Ermachild Chavis

Melody Ermachild Chavis is the author of a memoir, Altars in the Street. She also wrote Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan, about the young political activist who founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. Accompanied by Latifa Popal, Melody traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan to interview women who knew Meena. All of the author’s proceeds from Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan will be donated to programs sponsored by RAWA.

Melody also works as a private investigator defending people facing capital punishment. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is also a peace and social justice activist. She has served as cochair of the Berkeley Community Partnership for Substance Abuse Prevention and has been honored by the Berkeley Commission on the Status of Women for her outstanding contribution to the community. She is a youth justice advocate who volunteers with a community gardening program for youth at risk. A student of Zen Buddhism, she is a member of the board of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.