Curriculum Vitae

Selected Publications:

Books

• Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers, Biblioasis, Fall 2025
• 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

Magazines and Newspapers

• ‘“Always Hiding,” Alberta Views, April 2026
• “Among the Separatists,” The Tyee, April 2026
• “Beyond the Remittance,” EDify, April 2026
• “Born to Run,” Canadian Geographic, January/February 2026
• “The temporary foreign worker program has never been easy to defend. But it should be reformed, not scrapped,” The Globe and Mail, September 2025
• “Canada Runs on Serf Labour,” Maclean’s, September 2025
• “The War on Trans Youth Comes to Alberta,” Alberta Views, June 2025
• “How to Hold Off a Hack,” Avenue, May/June 2025
• Fatherhood: Part Two,” Alberta Views, September 2024
• “In the Footsteps of Migrants Who Never Made It,” The Walrus, July/August, 2024
• “Douglas Fir Trail: An uncertain future for an unlikely getaway,” Alberta Views, June 2024
• “Government Efforts to Help Vulnerable Workers May Be Retraumatizing Them,” The Walrus, February/March, 2024
• “In Gaza, only war is certain, and resilience is an affliction, not a virtue,” The Globe and Mail, November 2023
• “Crossing Time: Alberta’s last river ferries,” Canadian Geographic, July/August 2023, Ottawa
• “Extended Intermission: How One Yellow Rabbit survived the pandemic,” Alberta Views, November 2022
• “If I Had Me a Porsche,” The Walrus, July/August 2022
• “The Kitchen Is Always Open,” Arch Magazine, Spring/Summer 2022
• “The Cowboy Exclaims,” Canadian Geographic, March/April 2022
• “Pitch Perfect,” New Trail, March 2022
• “Ways of Teaching: Whose Job is it to Teach Kids to Care About Indigenous Trauma and Culture?,” Arch Magazine, September 2021
• “Making Magic,” Arch Magazine, June 2021
• “‘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
• “Separation During Isolation,” CBC Books, May 2020
• “The Two-Tier Food System,” Avenue,  August 2019
• “A gorilla safari with a difference in Uganda,” Canadian Geographic Travel, June 2019
• “Can We Save the Mountain Gorilla?”, Reader’s Digest Canada, March 2019
• “Looking for Home in the Palestinian Diaspora“, Hazlitt, September 2018
• “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
• “After the Gold Rush”, Swerve Magazine,  November 2017
• “Headbangers: How big a problem are brain injuries in high school football?“, Alberta Views, September 2017
• “Feeding Gaza,” Geographical,  August 2017
• “Borders Between Us and Them,” Times Literary Supplement, March 2017
• “The safe third country pact imperils lives—just like a border wall,” Maclean’s, March 2017
• “Low Rise Dubai,” EnRoute, December 2016
• “Wrestling Erica,” Swerve Magazine,  July 2016
• “Oman of Mystery,”  EnRoute,  October 2015
• “Knowing Michael Green,”  Avenue Magazine,  September 2015
• “Language Limbo,”  Alberta Views,  September 2015
• “The Gifted Tag,” Swerve Magazine,  January 2015, (reprinted in Reader’s Digest Canada,  August 2015)
• “The Long Journey of Nathan Phelps,” Swerve Magazine,  September 2014
• “Optical Illusionists,”  Swerve Magazine,  August 2014
• “Higher Power Seeks Highest Bidder,”  Swerve Magazine,  August 2014
• “The Walls That Divide Us in Calgary,”  Avenue Magazine,  May 2014
• “She Got Game,”  Swerve Magazine,  March 2014
• “The Walls That Hurt Us,”  The International New York Times,  January 2014
• “Touring the Walls,” Condé Nast Traveller,  August 2013
• “The Reclamation of Tijuana,”  Up!,  July 2013
• “Our Greatest Moment,”  The Globe and Mail,  June 2013
• “Weightless in Exile,” Alberta Views,  May 2013
• “On Edges,”  Canadian Geographic Travel,  May 2013
• “Juggling Act,”  Eighteen Bridges,  Spring 2013
• “In Holy Land, a different kind of sanctuary,”  The Globe and Mail,  November 2012
• “The Archivist,”  Swerve Magazine,  October 2012
• “High Life,”  Fairmont Magazine,  Fall 2012
• “Farming the Monsoon: A Return to Traditional O’odham Foods,”  Gastronomica,  Summer 2012
• “A Hymn in Aramaic,”  Alberta Views,  May 2012
• “Politics 2.0 – Naheed Nenshi and the Power of Social Engagement,” Reader’s Digest Canada,  May 2012
• “A Story of Bread and Love,” Swerve Magazine,  April 2012
• “The Great Wall of Montreal,”  Geist,  Fall 2011
• “It’s a Small World,”  Swerve Magazine,  March 2011
• “Memento Mirmy,”  The Walrus,  January/February 2011
• “Fatherhood,”  Alberta Views,  November 2010, (also condensed in Reader’s Digest Canada,  June 2011
• “An ‘Ungroup’ of Happy Campers,” Swerve Magazine,  October 2010
• “Fellow Traveler,”  Eighteen Bridges,  October 2010
• “Ritual Tourist,” Afar,  September/October 2010
• “The Zookeeper,” Alberta Views,  July 2010
• “Big Night in Forest Lawn,”  Swerve Magazine,  June 2010
• “Speaking Volumes,”  Swerve Magazine,  April 2010
• “Bird Calling,”  The Walrus,  March 2010
• “Life Through a New Lens,”  U Magazine,  Winter 2010
• “Wall of Shame,”  Geist,  Autumn 2009
• “From Their Kitchens with Love,”  Swerve Magazine,  September 2009
• “Books not Bombs,”  Maisonneuve,  Autumn 2009
• “Reconsidering Tangier,”  Westworld Magazine,  September 2009
• “Amman for All Seasons,”  EnRoute Magazine, February 2009
• “Hair Apparent,”  EnRoute Magazine,  December 2008
• “Cross to Bear,”  The Walrus,  October 2008
• “Honeymooning in Georgia,”  Swerve Magazine,  May 2008
• “Iftar at Damascus Gate,”  April 2008,  The Walrus
• “Persian Poetry Club,”  Swerve Magazine,  October 2007
• “The Boxer: Albert Onolunose,”  Swerve Magazine,  September 2007
• “No Place for a Honeymoon,” The Walrus,  September 2007
• “Sufi Gourmet,”  The Walrus,  July 2007
• “Turkish Delight,”  EnRoute,  June 2007
• “Little Boys’ Family Reunion,”  The Walrus,  September 2006
• “Before the Fall,”  EnRoute,   December 2004
• “Waiter Confidential,”  Avenue,  March 2003
• “Jiddah’s Jerusalem,”  Cairo Times,  Volume 4,  Issue 1,  2-8 March 2000

Accolades:

• Longlisted, 2026 J. W. Dafoe Book Prize, for Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers
• Longlisted, 2026 Toronto Book Awards, for Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers
• Winner, 2026 Alberta Magazine Awards, for “The War on Trans Youth Comes to Alberta”
• Finalist, 2026 Alberta Magazine Awards, for “How to Hold Off a Hack”
• Finalist, 2026 Wilfred Eggleston Prize for Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers
• Winner, 2026 City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Book Prize for Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers
• Selected, The Globe 100, Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers
• Winner, Silver medal, 2025 Alberta Magazine Awards, for “Driving the Film Industry”
• Finalist, 2025 Alberta Magazine Awards, for “Fatherhood: Part II”
• Winner, 2025 James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction, for “In the footsteps of migrants who never made it”
• Winner, 2024 Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award, for “Dying in Norfolk.”
• 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.”

Residency Positions held:

• Author-in-Residence at Rosemont Elementary School (2019)
• Author-in-Residence at Calgary Public Library (2018)
• Writer participant of the Investigative Journalism Intensive at the Banff Centre (2017)
• Artist-in-Residence at the A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, Palestine (2016)
• Writer-in-Residence at Palestine Writing Workshop, Birzeit, Palestine (2012)
• Writer-in-Residence at Alexandra Writers Centre, Calgary (2012)
• Writer-in-Residence at Calgary Distinguished Writers Program, Calgary (2009-2010)
• Writer participant of the Literary Journalism Program at the Banff Centre (2008)

Teaching experience:

• Mentor with the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Mentorship Program (2015, 2021 and 2025)
• Travel writing instructor with Pandemic University (2020, 2023 and 2025)
• Creative Nonfiction instructor at Wordsworth Youth Writing Residency, Bragg Creek (July 2012 to 2020, and July 2023)
• Featured writer and instructor at the Kalimat Palestinian Literature Festival (November 2018)
• Masterclass instructor of “Writing the World” at the Calgary Distinguished Writers Program Reunion Festival (September 2016)
• Profile writing instructor for We Are Not Numbers, a youth-led Palestinian nonprofit project in Gaza (October 2015)
• Featured Instructor at the Iceland Writers Retreat (April 2015)
• Guest Faculty at The Banff Centre’s Literary Journalism Program (July 2013)
• Writing instructor at Rapid Exit from Sexual Exploitation & Trafficking (RESET) Society of Calgary, formerly Servants Anonymous Society (2010)