In Beirut: Anni Kanafani, Nahla Ghandour, Ryma Hady, and Farouk Ghandour.
In France: Sandrine Dumas Roy.
In Canada and the United States: John Vigna, Anahid Melikian, Anahid Helewa, Ghada Ageel, Ilene Prusher, Fady Joudah, Adina Hoffman, Julia Hurley, Hadeel Qazzaz, Mike Crawford, Filomena Gomes, Cathy Ostlere, Harold Knight, Hala Alyan, Sharif Elmusa, Jonathan Garfinkel, Chris Turner, the Calgary Public Library, and everyone at WordsWorth—especially all the young writers.
A few people deserve a special mention. Thanks to my wonderful Gaza fixers, Nedal Samir Hamdouna and Lara Aburamadan, who taught me more about Gaza than anyone else; to Haneen Rizq El-Sammak, her children, Hala, Habiba, and Omar, and her mother, Um Abdallah, for making me feel a part of their beautiful family; to Marcia Lynx Qualey, who I pestered constantly to put me in touch with Palestinian writers; to Edmée Van Rijn for offering to kill the snake in my bathroom; to special agents Jackie Kaiser, Liz Culotti, Meg Wheeler, and Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists for waving this book in the face of publishers around the world; to the keen eye of my editor Linda Pruessen, who liked this manuscript long before I did; and to Susanne Alexander, Karen Pinchin, Martin Ainsley, and the rest of the crew at Goose Lane for their continuing enthusiasm for my work.
This project could not have been accomplished without the support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Lastly, thank you to Moonira Rampuri and Amedeo Di Cintio for your patience, encouragement, and love.
MARCELLO DI CINTIO is the author of four books, including the critically acclaimed Walls: Travels Along the Barricades, winner of the 2013 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. Di Cintio’s essays have been published in The Walrus, Canadian Geographic, The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, and Afar. He lives in Calgary. Find more at marcellodicintio.com.
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