Quill and Quire reviewed Walls in their current issue. Q&Q was kind to the book, giving it a ‘starred’ review and saying nice things like: This is, however, no superficial travelogue. Di Cintio immerses himself in his chosen locations, providing historical background and rich reportage of the many social and political realities of being walled […]
Yearly Archives: 2012
December
07
Calgary Herald Christmas Fund
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Each year at this time, The Calgary Herald’s Christmas Fund gathers donations to help out worthy community organizations and charities in the Calgary area. The Fund asked me to contribute to the campaign by writing a piece for the newspaper about my own encounters with the city’s poor and downtrodden. I wrote about my work […]
December
07
National Post Review
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Another review for Walls, this time in the National Post. The reviewer, Vit Wagner, said the book is “mostly a litany of tears, anger and woe, leavened by bitterly absurdist irony.” Coincidentally, this is exactly how I describe my wrestling career. Wagner liked the book, though, and I am grateful for the kind review. You […]
The Long and the Short
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
On the same day I found out that Walls: Travels Along the Barricades did not, sadly, make it onto the shortlist of the B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, I also learned that Walls did, happily, make the longlist for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. Thank you to the Charles Taylor jury for considering […]
Walls reviewed in Alberta Views
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Author Myrna Kostash reviewed Walls: Travels Along the Barricades in the current issue of Alberta Views. Myrna was terribly kind to the book, concluding her review with: Di Cintio writes vividly, conscientiously, compassionately and, in his concluding paragraphs, optimistically in spite of all he has witnessed – for he has also witnessed moments of beauty, […]
Walls makes the ‘Globe 100’ list
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Thank you to the editors of The Globe and Mail’s “Books” section for naming Walls: Travels Along the Barricades to their roster of the top 100 books of 2012. Walls shares the nonfiction list with 42 other books including titles by Salman Rushdie, Christopher Hitchens, Alain de Botton and Nahlah Ayed. And I’m especially happy to […]
November
23
“Wrapped in Chains”
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Montreal blogger Mercedes Sharpe Zayas wrote an excellent essay about the l’Acadie fence on the website, Petite Mort. The post, titled “Wrapped in Chains,” recounts both the history of the fence and the community that erected it. She also discusses what, if anything, the fence represents. Again, I am amazed that a decades-old “feeble relic,” […]
Walls Excerpt in Reader’s Digest
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
If you open the current Reader’s Digest Canada – alongside “the most optimistic, tear-jerking, inspiring, unexpected, hilarious, brilliant and disarming moments of the year” – you’ll find a long excerpt from Walls: Travels Along the Barricades. The good people at RD did an excellent job piecing together different sections of Walls into a concise narrative […]
Walls on the Radio
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Here are links to a couple of radio interviews I did recently about Walls: Travels Along the Barricades. The first comes from CBC’s “Daybreak Alberta.” Host Russell Bowers and I talked about the book and about a short piece I wrote about fruit flies for the Canada Writes website. You can find the interview here. […]
November
19
Why I Voted for Chris Turner
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Last weekend, at an advance poll, I cast a ballot in the Calgary Centre federal by-election. I voted for Chris Turner of the Green Party. I want to tell you why. I was born in Calgary. It is the only city I’ve ever lived in and the only home I know. Not long ago, however, […]
Elsewhere 