Moving with the Seasons: Portrait of a Mongolian Family, is a visual and written portrait of life in a nomadic Mongolian family.

Winner of 7 national book awards.

“If your library has no other book on Mongolia, this should be the one.” Randall K. Barry, acquisitions and cataloging librarian for Mongolian materials at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
(read full review here)

Filled with photographs and personal perspectives on daily life, Moving with the Seasons: Portrait of a Mongolian Family, is an outgrowth of my relationship with the family who became my collaborators in writing this book. The family’s willingness to share with the rest of the world the annual cycle of nomadic life on the Mongolian steppe makes for an unusually intimate portrait of a modern nomadic people.  Much of the information found in my text and photographs comes directly from time spent with this family, and is not available in print elsewhere.

My goal was to capture the life and spirit of the Mongolian nomads and to present their lives with honor and integrity.  Presented within the context of the often surprising blend of traditional and modern elements of nomadic life, the text and photos document the centrality of animals to the herding community, and their enduring traditions of hospitality.

The family, while retaining the essential ancient ways of living that have survived since the time of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan,  are already incorporating aspects of the modern world.  Moving with the Seasons documents a traditional culture that still survives in a modern world even as it is under tremendous pressure to change. It is both timely in its appeal to the growing awareness in the West that we have a lot to learn from traditional peoples before their ways of life disappear, and timeless in its representation of the humanity of the nomadic  family profiled in the book.

Moving with the Seasons: Portrait of a Mongolian Family is a 200 page, four-color, photography book published by Saltwind Press.

Review by Michael Kohn, Author of Lonely Planet’s Guide to Mongolia

“In an age when most travellers whiz about the globe at light speed, Liza Carter prefers a slower pace that has given her a rare and in-depth look at the fast-disappearing nomadic culture of Mongolia. Her timely book displays extraordinary passion and sensitivity for the people she meets and with a careful eye she brings her reader into the cozy felt gers that the Mongols have called home for centuries. The news cycle in Mongolia tends to focus on the country’s mining boom, evolving business culture, and political tumult in the capital, but Liza Carter instead paints a portrait of a traditional nomad family as they struggle to survive the harsh  landscape and unforgiving climate in a land once considered the greatest empire on Earth.”

Fifty percent of the profits from Moving with the Seasons will be donated to hospitals and clinics serving nomadic children.

Photographs of the extended family