“This book has a special intimacy that comes through in its visceral images and thoughtful prose. It brings together two deeply personal connections to Tsum, expressed through Steve’s love of photography and Chadani’s gift for storytelling. I could almost feel the winds of Mu Monastery and their perpetual motion, and smell the woodsmoke rising from villagers’ kitchen fires. If you feel a connection to the Himalayas, or long to discover one, I wholeheartedly recommend this book.”
— Jane Marshall
The Valley Knows Her Name
A Woman’s Reflections From Tsum Valley
Photographs by Steve Fagan | Stories by Chadani Lama
There are places we visit, and places that come to live within us.
In a remote Himalayan valley, the photographs of Steve Fagan and the words of Chadani Lama meet in the stories of people whose ordinary lives hold extraordinary depth.
Hardcover · 176 pages · First edition, 2026 · From CA$125
A valley known through the lives of its people
Beyond the high passes and prayer flags, Tsum Valley is made of ordinary days. People tend fields, children grow into responsibility, butter lamps are lit, and families gather around the kitchen fire. Faith is not set apart from life here; it moves through work, hospitality, hardship, and the turning of the seasons.
The Valley Knows Her Name enters this world through Steve Fagan's photographs and Chadani Lama's writing. Across repeated journeys, they came to know a place shaped by Buddhist devotion, communal ties, and the demanding realities of Himalayan life.
But this is not a portrait of a valley frozen in time. Roads, education, migration, and changing aspirations are reshaping the lives of those who remain.
At the heart of the book are its women: daughters, mothers, farmers, herders, and nuns, whose labor and sacrifices so often remain outside the stories told about beautiful places. Their lives hold tenderness and humor alongside duty, solitude, faith, and the desire for something more.
These pages ask the reader to look beyond the splendor of the mountains and stay awhile with the people who call them home.
The Valley Knows Her Name is part of the wider Tsum Valley Project.
Profits from book sales support education-related initiatives for children in Tsum Valley through the Fagan Foundation.
We hope readers will value the book first for its photographs, its stories, and the people who entrusted us with a part of their lives. Its contribution to education carries those encounters forward.
Photographs and words, held in conversation
Steve Fagan — Photography
Based in Calgary, Canada, Steve Fagan has been drawn to photography since his teenage years. After retiring from full-time professional work in 2021, he devoted himself more deeply to documentary photography. His first visit to Tsum in March 2022 came as a side trip from the Manaslu Circuit. He had expected to photograph the landscape; instead, the people, spiritual life, and everyday rhythms of the valley drew him back again and again.
Over time, photography became more than a record of his travels. Steve came to feel a responsibility toward the people who had welcomed him. His patient, candid images pay attention to small gestures, work, faith, hardship, humour, and the moments that unfold without being arranged for the camera. That desire to give something back also helped inspire the creation of the Fagan Foundation.
Chadani Lama — Stories
Chadani Lama is a writer and creative partner at Steve Fagan Photography. Her family roots lie in the Himalayan region of Solu Khumbu, though she grew up and lives in Kathmandu. When she first travelled to Tsum, she carried memories of people she had lost and questions about grief, belonging, and faith. What began as a journey into the mountains became something far more personal: a homecoming.
Drawing on her Himalayan heritage and her experience as a woman, Chadani writes with compassion and a willingness to question tradition, particularly the expectations placed upon women. She pays attention to lives that are easily overlooked: the weight of sustaining a household through winter, the solitude of a remote nunnery, the uncertainty of children leaving home, and the quiet strength of those who stay. Her writing looks beyond the romantic image of the valley to ask what is loved, what is endured, and what is changing.
Set beside Steve's photographs, her reflections offer another way of knowing Tsum: not only as a landscape, but as a community of individual lives, and a place of personal memory.
“For me, Tsum is not just a valley. Not just a project. It is a return. A remembering. A homecoming.”
— Chadani Lama
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What readers are saying
“This book has left an imprint on me that is difficult to put into words. Through breathtaking photography and exquisitely told stories, Tsum Valley emerges as a place almost outside of time, a hidden corner of the world shaped by immense natural beauty and the quiet richness of everyday life. The women whose stories fill these pages embody perseverance and resilience, but also a joy and connection that transcends circumstance. I came away not only with a deeper understanding of a place and its people, but with an unexpected sense of stillness, perspective and peace. It is a book that has stayed with me.”
— Ashley
“Steve and Chadani have created a stunning and intimate collection of photos and stories that beautifully captures the strength, resilience and quiet dignity of the women of Tsum Valley. The book made me feel like I was looking directly at their faces and sitting beside them as they told their stories. It’s a moving and graceful glimpse into the remarkable spirit and traditions behind these Himalayan women.”
— Kelly
“Together, Steve Fagan and Chadani Lama weave a powerful tale of Tsum Valley. Steve captures the breathtaking beauty of the region and its people through his photographs, while Chadani breathes life into this imagery through her deeply moving and gifted storytelling. This book is a stunning visual and narrative tribute to a culture that begs to be experienced.”
— Meghan McIntyre
“The Tsum Valley is a beyul - a sacred hidden valley, where life has been lived as it has been for centuries, following the rhythms of nature, and the Tsumpas’ Buddhist faith continues unspoiled, illuminating hardscrabble daily life. Steve Fagan’s photos capture the beauty of that faith and the challenge Tsumpas face to survive. Chadani Lama’s text deeply honours these valiant, kindly folk and their highland culture she knows so well. It is a precious record of life lived in harmony. I am grateful for this book.”
— Shirley Blair
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Language: English
Publication Year: 2026
Edition: First printing, 2000 copies
Trim Size: 12 x 10 inches
Cover: Full-color printed hardcover, gloss laminated
Paper type: 100 lb silk-coated art paper
Binding: Smythe-sewn casebound (hardcover) with headbands
Printing method: offset
Pages: 176
ISBN: 978-1-0673853-0-9
Publisher: Steve Fagan Photography (printed in Canada)
Pricing Options:
Standard Edition — $125 CAD
Includes a copy of The Valley Knows Her Name.
Companion Edition — $150 CAD
Includes the book, along with additional support for education initiatives in Tsum Valley.
Patron Edition — $250 CAD
Includes a signed copy of The Valley Knows Her Name, a 5×7 archival print from Tsum Valley, and additional support for education initiatives in Tsum Valley.
Shipping and taxes are added at checkout.
Shipping cost per order:
Canada: $30 for one book; $10 for each additional book.
United States: $40 for one book; $15 for each additional book.
Local pickup/delivery in Calgary, Canada: Free
For orders outside of Canada and the United States, please contact us before ordering so we can provide a shipping quote.
PURCHASE HERE:
High in Nepal’s Himalaya lies Tsum Valley — a place shaped by faith, tradition, and long-standing ways of life.
The Valley Knows Her Name offers a reflection on the people, culture, and daily life of this Himalayan community, told through the words of Chadani Lama and the photographs of Steve Fagan.
This book is part of the Tsum Valley Project. Further information is available here.
Profits from the sale of this book will be directed to the Fagan Foundation (currently being established in Canada) to support education-related initiatives benefiting children in Tsum Valley.