The gala stuck to its new ‘no acceptance speech’ rule – a wise policy, no doubt. Still, given the opportunity, this is what I would have told the assembled crowd:

A few months back, Walls won another prize that was handed out at a swanky gala in Ottawa attended by several hundred federal politicians, political journalists and writers. In my acceptance speech for that award, I thanked Calgarians (though I could’ve easily said Albertans) for their ongoing support for my work. I told the gowned and besuited crowd that Alberta was an excellent place to be a writer.

I thought that my shout-out to Alberta would earn some polite applause. Instead I got a rousing whoop from the crowd. Later, I realized why. The audience was filled with federal Conservatives, all who have a spiritual and philosophical home in Alberta. This annoyed me because I sure as hell was not thanking them. I was even more annoyed when I saw that Conservative duds Joan Crockatt and Michelle Rempel tweeted my comments, as if they represented the Calgary I was referring to and were the target of my praise. Please. Alberta is a fine place to be a writer in spite of the Crockatts, Rempels, and Harpers et al we inexplicably send to Parliament. Certainly not because of them.

The sort of Albertans I meant to thank were not in Ottawa, they were in that room in Edmonton last Saturday night. My fellow writers and readers of Alberta, the publishers and editors and booksellers, are the people who I owe a debt. You have been enthusiastic for my writing, and I am honoured by your support. You make me feel both lucky and proud to be a writer from Alberta.

My story about Hayna Gutierrez, a star Cuban ballerina who now dances for Calgary-based Alberta Ballet, appears in the current issue (May 2013) of Alberta Views.

I met wit Hayna last winter when the company was preparing for their annual performance of The Nutcracker. For my research, I briefly sat in on one of the rehearsals. I expected to see a troupe of dancers learning to be sugarplum fairies. I thought I’d watch teachers and directors instruct the dancers artistically. Teaching them to be beautiful.

Instead, I was surprised to see something far more physical than artistic. On the edges of the room, dancers rubbed their sore arms and legs while listening to their iPods. A therapy ball was lodged beneath a baby grand piano. On a loft overlooking the studio, two dancers rode exercise bikes. On the floor itself, an instructor was working with a single ballerina, having her perform the same few steps over and over again to the same few bars of music. I heard her tell the dancer to “raise her lever”  – by this I understood to mean her leg – by a few more degrees. Her instructions were wholly technical. I was surprised how much the scene reminded me of my University wrestling practices. (And I mean this with the highest reverence.) Wrestlers talk of ‘levers.’ We repeat the same movements over and over again. The dancers I witnessed were training their bodies and their technique more than they were ‘creating art.’

Of course, anyone who has seen an Alberta Ballet performance knows that, on stage, the dancers do, in fact create art. They are pure and gifted artists. They appear weightless on stage, and resemble the birds and fairies that their movements are meant to represent. I feel fortunate, though, to have been granted an insight in the physical training that forms the muscular foundation for this artistry.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

There are some incredible photos of the U.S.-Mexico border wall on The Atlantic‘s “In Focus” site. The forty photographs – ranging from aerial views to intimate portrait shots – tell a visual story of life along the borderlands.

See the photos here.

(Photo: Paul Zizka)

My story in Canadian Geographic Travel: wherein a family road-trips through southern Alberta, a fascination with borders continues, and a two year-old boy utters a mild expletive.

Go here.

Appearing in July across the Atlantic, and priced in pounds sterling, here is the U.K. cover for Walls: Travels Along the Barricades. The people at Union Books did a great job.

I find it interesting that in spite of the fact that my book covers eight walls around the world, the designers of all three covers decided to go with an image of the US-Mexico border. There is something appealing about its harsh aesthetic, I suppose. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, I requested the designers not use an image of the West Bank Wall in Palestine. Nearly every book written about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the the few years has featured the wall on its cover, and I wanted my book to look a little different.

Voting has now opened for the Alberta Readers’ Choice Awards. Walls is in the running for this prize, and the winner is decided by public voting. If anyone out there feels compelled to cast a vote for Walls, please go here. It will only take a moment, and won’t hurt a bit.

Walls  made the cut alongside books by my friends Andrew Nikiforuk and Theanna Bischoff. Here we are in a cheesy, photo-shopped image produced by Beacon News:

Andrew, Theanna and I will be reading from our nominated books on May 14th at the Rose and Crown Pub in Calgary. Join us there, if you can. The Award itself will be handed out at the Calgary Awards on June 12th.

(Now if only I could stop people from misspelling my last name with a lower-case ‘D’)

On each of these shortlists, I find myself in the company of friends. As Walls nears its publication dates in the US and the UK – places where nobody knows who I am – I savour these opportunities to be recognized alongside my fellow Albertans.

Last night, I had the great pleasure of visiting with a Calgary book club. This particular club has been gathering for the better part of 30 years, and I was honoured to sit in on such as venerable group. Last night they met to discuss my last book, Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran. After flogging Walls for so long it felt a little odd returning to a book that was published in 2006 and based on travels I made nearly a decade ago. But it felt a little nostalgic, too, and I enjoyed making the return.

The ladies and I spoke a lot about Iran. We spoke about the way the country and its people are portrayed in the media. We spoke about the film Argo, and how every Iranian in the film seems to be a snarling villain. We spoke a joke made at the Golden Globes. The hosts quipped that Ben Affleck wanted to make a movie about someplace more friendly that Boston so he chose Iran. The irony is that Iran is, in fact, a friendlier place than Boston, had Ben bothered to find out. The Iranians treated me with more humanity, warmth and generosity than I’ve ever felt before or since.

We spoke, too, how the media continues to describe Canada’s role in the Iran hostage crisis, under-represented in Argo, as potentially “saving American lives.” The media neglects to mention that of the  52 Americans held hostage the Iranians killed exactly zero. They were kept prisoner for 444 days – a horrifying ordeal to be sure – but the hostages didn’t harm them. This is an important point that is always missed when we cast our heroes and villains.

I told the gathered readers how important it was for me to show a side of Iran that we don’t get to see in the regular media. And I told them that the greatest compliments I’ve ever received on any piece of my writing is from the Iranians who tell me they appreciated how portrayed them.

Then today, on No Ruz, the Persian New Year, CBC host Jian Ghomeshi read the following essay that everyone who thinks they know anything about Iran, and Iranians, should take a moment to listen to:

http://www.cbc.ca/player/AudioMobile/Q/ID/2352167723/

No Ruz Mubarak!