Curriculum Vitae

Selected Publications:

Books

• Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers, Biblioasis, Fall 2024
• Driven: The Secret Lives of Canadian Taxi Drivers, Biblioasis, Spring 2021
• Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense, Goose Lane Editions, Spring 2018; Saqi Books, Spring 2018 (UK); Counterpoint Press, Fall 2018 (US)
• Walls: Travels Along the Barricades, Goose Lane Editions, Fall 2012 (Canada); Union Books, Summer 2013 (U.K.); Counterpoint Press, Fall 2013 (U.S.); Vakon BG, Summer 2014 (Bulgaria); Lux Éditeur, Fall 2017 (Quebec and France)
• Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran,  Knopf Canada,  Toronto,  2006
• Harmattan: Wind Across West Africa,  Insomniac Press,  Toronto,  2002

Digital Book

• Song of the Caged Bird: Words as Resistance in Palestine, Hazlitt, Toronto,  November 2014

Magazines and Newspapers

• (forthcoming) “Crossing Time,” Canadian Geographic, July/August 2023, Ottawa
• “Extended Intermission: How One Yellow Rabbit survived the pandemic,” Alberta Views, November 2022
• “Profile in Courage: The Canadian man who dive 12 metres into the sea to try and save a friend,” Canadian Geographic (online), August 2022
• “Profile in Courage: The Canadian man who saved his brother after a helicopter crash,” Canadian Geographic (online), July 2022
• “Profile in Courage: The Canadian woman who risked her life to save people in Haiti trapped beneath a collapsed schoolhouse,” Canadian Geographic (online), July 2022
• “Profile in Courage: The Canadian coast guard who rescued fishermen stranded in a winter storm,” Canadian Geographic (online), July 2022
• “Profile in Courage: The Canadian man who saved a woman from the jaws of a polar bear,” Canadian Geographic (online), July 2022
• “If I Had Me a Porsche,” The Walrus, July/August 2022, Toronto
• “The Kitchen Is Always Open,” Arch Magazine, Spring/Summer 2022, Calgary
• “The Cowboy Exclaims,” Canadian Geographic, March/April 2022, Ottawa
• “Pitch Perfect,” New Trail, March 2022, Edmonton
• “Ways of Teaching: Whose Job is it to Teach Kids to Care About Indigenous Trauma and Culture?,” Arch Magazine, September 2021, Calgary
• “The Case for Allowing Drinking in Calgary’s Public Parks,” Avenue, July 2021
• “Making Magic,” Arch Magazine, June 2021, Calgary
• “‘Road’ Scholars: Why every taxi driver possesses their own brand of genius,” The Globe and Mail, May 2021
• “Calgary Sex Worker Lula Blue Needed a Community. So She Built One,” Chatelaine, May 2021
• “Not Safe For Work: Calgary Sex Workers Adapt to Pandemic,” The Sprawl, July 2020, Calgary
• “Separation During Isolation,” CBC Books, May 2020, Calgary
• “The Two-Tier Food System,” Avenue,  August 2019, Calgary
• “A gorilla safari with a difference in Uganda,” Canadian Geographic Travel, June 2019, Ottawa
• “Can We Save the Mountain Gorilla?”, Reader’s Digest Canada, March 2019, Montreal
• “Looking for Home in the Palestinian Diaspora“, Hazlitt, September 2018, Toronto
• “How Jen Gerson Became One of Canada’s Most Popular Political Pundits,”  Avenue,  August 2018,  Calgary
• “For Palestinians, the Nakba is a disaster that continues to this day,”  The Globe and Mail,”  May 12, 2018″
• “At the Edge of the World, an Indigenous People Thrives“, Afar, January/February 2018, San Francisco
• “After the Gold Rush”, Swerve Magazine,  November 2017,  Calgary
• “Headbangers: How big a problem are brain injuries in high school football?“, Alberta Views, September 2017,  Calgary
• “Feeding Gaza,” Geographical,  August 2017,  London
• “Borders Between Us and Them,” Times Literary Supplement, March 2017, London
• “The safe third country pact imperils lives—just like a border wall,” Maclean’s, March 2017, Toronto
• “The Unlikely Chinese-Canadian Bromance Based on Watches,” Financial Times,  January 2017,  London
• “Satwa: A modest neighbourhood in the midst of Dubai’s skyscrapers,” enRoute, December 2016, Montreal
• “Wrestling Erica,” Swerve Magazine,  July 2016,  Calgary
• “WordFest @ 20,”  Swerve Magazine,  October 2015,  Calgary
• “The Best Middle East Road Trip You Never Heard Of,”  enRoute,  October 2015,  Montreal
• “Knowing Michael Green,”  Avenue Magazine,  September 2015,  Calgary
• “Language Limbo,”  Alberta Views,  September 2015,  Calgary
• “The Gifted Tag,” Swerve Magazine,  January 2015,  Calgary (reprinted in Reader’s Digest Canada,  August 2015,  Montreal,)
• “The Other Side of the Berlin Wall,” Swerve Magazine,  November 2014,  Calgary
• “The Long Journey of Nathan Phelps,” Swerve Magazine,  September 2014,  Calgary
• “Optical Illusionists,”  Swerve Magazine,  August 2014,  Calgary
• “Higher Power Seeks Highest Bidder,”  Swerve Magazine,  August 2014,  Calgary
• “The Walls That Divide Us in Calgary,”  Avenue Magazine,  May 2014, Calgary
• “She Got Game,”  Swerve Magazine,  March 2014,  Calgary
• “The Walls That Hurt Us,”  The International New York Times,  January 2014,  New York
• “Touring the Walls,” Condé Nast Traveller,  August 2013,  London
• “The Reclamation of Tijuana,”  Up!,  July 2013,  Calgary
• “Our Greatest Moment,”  The Globe and Mail,  June 2013,  Toronto
• “Weightless in Exile,” Alberta Views,  May 2013,  Calgary
• “On Edges,”  Canadian Geographic Travel,  May 2013,  Ottawa
• “Juggling Act,”  Eighteen Bridges,  Spring 2013,  Edmonton
• “In Holy Land, a different kind of sanctuary,”  The Globe and Mail,  November 2012,  Toronto
• “The Archivist,”  Swerve Magazine,  October 2012,  Calgary,
• “High Life,”  Fairmont Magazine,  Fall 2012,  Montreal
• “Farming the Monsoon: A Return to Traditional O’odham Foods,”  Gastronomica,  Summer 2012,  Williamstown
• “A Hymn in Aramaic,”  Alberta Views,  May 2012,  Calgary
• “Politics 2.0 – Naheed Nenshi and the Power of Social Engagement,” Reader’s Digest Canada,  May 2012,  Montreal
• “A Story of Bread and Love,” Swerve Magazine,  April 2012
• “The Horologist: Doug Sinclair,”  Swerve Magazine,  February 2012,  Calgary
• “How to Write a Love Letter,”  Reader’s Digest Canada,  February 2012,  Montreal
• “Sand Blast,”  Impact Magazine,  January/February 2012,  Calgary
• “The Great Wall of Montreal,”  Geist,  Fall 2011,  Vancouver
• “Congress in Recess,”  enRoute,  October 2011,  Montreal
• “It’s a Small World,”  Swerve Magazine,  March 2011,  Calgary
• “Memento Mirmy,”  The Walrus,  January/February 2011,  Toronto
• “Fatherhood,”  Alberta Views,  November 2010,  Calgary(also condensed in Reader’s Digest Canada,  June 2011,  Montreal)
• “An ‘Ungroup’ of Happy Campers,” Swerve Magazine,  October 2010,  Calgary
• “Fellow Traveler,”  Eighteen Bridges,  October 2010,  Edmonton
• “Ritual Tourist,” Afar,  September/October 2010,  San Francisco
• “The Zookeeper,” Alberta Views,  July 2010,  Calgary
• “Big Night in Forest Lawn,”  Swerve Magazine,  June 2010,  Calgary
• “Speaking Volumes,”  Swerve Magazine,  April 2010,  Calgary
• “Bird Calling,”  The Walrus,  March 2010,  Toronto
• “Life Through a New Lens,”  U Magazine,  Winter 2010,  Calgary
• “Wall of Shame,”  Geist,  Autumn 2009,  Vancouver
• “From Their Kitchens with Love,”  Swerve Magazine,  September 2009,  Calgary
• “Books not Bombs,”  Maisonneuve,  Autumn 2009,  Montreal
• “Reconsidering Tangier,”  Westworld Magazine,  September 2009,  Edmonton
• “Amman for All Seasons,”  EnRoute Magazine, February 2009,  Montreal
• “Hair Apparent,”  EnRoute Magazine,  December 2008,  Montreal
• “Cross to Bear,”  The Walrus,  October 2008,  Toronto
• “Honeymooning in Georgia,”  Swerve Magazine,  May 2008,  Calgary
• “Iftar at Damascus Gate,”  April 2008,  The Walrus,  Toronto
• “Persian Poetry Club,”  Swerve Magazine,  October 2007,  Calgary
• “The Boxer: Albert Onolunose,”  Swerve Magazine,  September 2007,  Calgary
• “No Place for a Honeymoon,” The Walrus,  September 2007,  Toronto
• “Sufi Gourmet,”  The Walrus,  July 2007,  Toronto
• “Turkish Delight,”  EnRoute,  June 2007,  Montreal
• “City Insider: Istanbul,”  The Globe and Mail,  October 2006,  Toronto
• “Little Boys’ Family Reunion,”  The Walrus,  September 2006,  Toronto
• “City Insider: Jerusalem,”  The Globe and Mail,  April 2006,  Toronto
• “The Mystery of the Chinese Menu,”  Avenue,  January 2005,  Calgary
• “Before the Fall,”  EnRoute,   December 2004,   Montreal
• “Waiter Confidential,”  Avenue,  March 2003,  Calgary
• “Jiddah’s Jerusalem,”  Cairo Times,  Volume 4,  Issue 1,  2-8 March 2000,  Cairo

Literary Journals

• “Lion Hearts,”  Prism International,  Volume 41:2,  Winter 2003,  Vancouver
• “Leaving Mauritania,”  Prism International,  Volume 39:3,  Spring 2001,  Vancouver
• “Bone Etchings and Blood Tattoos: Letters from Niger,”  Event,  Volume 29:3,  2001,  New Westminster (anthologized by Harcourt Canada in Elements of English 12)
• “Cinnamon Leaves: Letters from Ghana,” Prairie Fire,  Volume 21,  Number 3,  Autumn 2000,  Winnipeg

Accolades:

• Finalist,  2023 James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction, for “The Cowboy Exclaims”
• Winner,  2022 F.G. Bressani Literary Prize for Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers
• Winner,  2019 The City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Book Prize for Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense
• Finalist,  2019 Wilfred Eggleston Prize for Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense
• Winner,  Gold medal, 2017 Alberta Magazine Awards, for “Wrestling Erica”
• Winner,  Silver medal, 2016 Alberta Magazine Awards, for “Knowing Michael Green”
• Finalist,  2016 Alberta Magazine Awards, for “The Gifted Tag”
• Winner,  Silver medal, 2015 National Magazine Awards, for “The Long Journey of Nathan Phelps”
• Winner,  Gold medal, 2015 Alberta Magazine Awards, for “The Long Journey of Nathan Phelps”
• Finalist,  2015 Alberta Magazine Awards, for “She Got Game”
• Semi-finalist,  2014 Dolman Travel Book Award, for Walls: Travels Along the Barricades
• Finalist,  2013 National Magazine Awards, for “Juggling Act”
• Finalist,  2013 North America Travel Journalists Association Awards, ‘Luxury and Leisure’ category, for “High Life”
• Winner,  2013 The City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Book Prize for Walls: Travels Along the Barricades
• Finalist,  2013 Alberta Readers’ Choice Award for Walls: Travels Along the Barricades
• Winner,  2013 James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction, for “A Hymn in Aramaic”
• Winner,  2013 Wilfred Eggleston Prize for Walls: Travels Along the Barricades
• Winner,  2013 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, for Walls: Travels Along the Barricades
• Semi-finalist,  2013 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, for Walls: Travels Along the Barricades
• Semi-finalist,  2013 British Columbia National Award for Non-Fiction, for Walls: Travels Along the Barricades
• Finalist, 2011 National Magazine Awards, for “Fatherhood.”
• Finalist, 2011 Western Magazine Awards, for “Fatherhood.”
• Finalist, 2010 National Magazine Awards, for “Wall of Shame.”
• Winner, 2009 Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award, for “Tindouf.”
• Finalist, 2007 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction, for Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran.
• Winner, 2007 Wilfred Eggleston Award for Non-fiction, for Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran.
• Finalist, 2006 W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize, for Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran.
• Finalist, 2006 Adventure Travel category of the Banff Mountain Book Festival Competition, for Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran.
• Winner, 2005 Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award, for “Poets and Pahlevans: Travels in Iran”.
• Finalist, 2004 Western Magazine Awards, for “Waiter Confidential.”
• Finalist, 2003 Adventure Travel category of the Banff Mountain Book Festival Competition, for Harmattan: Wind Across West Africa.
• Finalist, 2003 Wilfred Eggleston Award for Non-fiction, for Harmattan: Wind Across West Africa.
• Winner, 2003 Henry Kreisel Award for Best First Book, for Harmattan: Wind Across West Africa.
• Winner, 2002 Maclean-Hunter Endowment for Creative Nonfiction, for “Lionhearts.”
• Finalist, 2002 Western Magazine Awards, for “Leaving Mauritania”
• Finalist, 2001 National Magazine Awards, for “Bone Etchings and Blood Tattoos: Letters from Niger.”
• Finalist, 2001 Western Magazine Awards, for “Bone Etchings and Blood Tattoos: Letters from Niger.”
• Finalist, 2001 Western Magazine Awards, for “Cinnamon Leaves: Letters from Ghana.”
• Winner, 2000 Event Creative Non-Fiction Contest #13, for “Bone Etchings and Blood Tattoos: Letters from Niger.”

Positions held:

• Faculty Member at Pandemic University, Calgary (May 2020)
• Author-in-Residence at Rosemont Elementary School, Calgary (Spring 2019)
• Author-in-Residence at the Calgary Public Library (September 2018-December 2018)
• Master class instructor of “Writing the World” at the Calgary Distinguished Writers Program Reunion Festival (September 2016)
• Creative Nonfiction instructor at Wordsworth Youth Writing Residency, Bragg Creek (July 2012 to 2020)
• Instructor at the Okanagan Food and Wine Writers’ Workshop (September 2015)
• Featured Instructor at the Iceland Writers Retreat (April 2015)
• Guest Faculty at The Banff Centre’s Literary Journalism Program (July 2013)
• Writer-in-Residence at the Palestine Writing Workshop, Birzeit (June 2012)
• Writer-in-Residence at the Alexandra Writers’ Centre, Calgary (March and April 2012)
• TEDxCalgary Speaker (June 2011)
• Weekend Intensive workshop instructor for Elsewhere: The Art of Travel Writing at the Alexandra Writers Centre (September 2010)
• Writer-in-Residence of the 2010 Calgary Folk Music Festival
• 2009-2010 Markin-Flanagan Canadian Writer-in-Residence at the University of Calgary