My office window faces north and from here I can see the edge of Calgary’s Nose Hill Park. The park is a vast stretch of grassland that has avoided the encroachment of subdivisions and suburbs. A miracle in Calgary. I used to run along the trails on Nose Hill Park when I was a teenager. […]
Writer-and-Wrestler-in-Residence
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
I’ve been the Markin-Flanagan Writer-in-Residence at the University of Calgary since mid-August and I’ve had a fabulous and productive month. From my 11th floor office I managed to complete a handful of freelance pieces for magazines and, more importantly, another chapter in my Walls project. A first draft of my Ceuta and Melilla chapter is […]
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Great Home Chefs
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
My freelance writing career has been typically feast or famine. This September I am feasting. In addition to the Maisonneuve piece I mentioned in my last post, and a story about Tangier in this month’s Westworld Magazine, I wrote the cover story in today’s Swerve Magazine. In it, I profile five great amateur chefs of […]
A Biography of a Café
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Earlier this year I had the great honour to read at a Jerusalem café-bookstore called Tmol Shilshom. (I mentioned this in a previous post.) I’d been wanting to read at the café for years, and it was a fabulous night. Tmol Shilshom has a fascinating history. The café’s opening night event in 1994 featured the […]
Reading about the Saharawi
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Last week I ‘headlined’ the monthly Flywheel Reading series event at Pages Bookstore in Calgary. It was a chance for me to read from the book-in-progress and I am grateful to the Flywheel crew for inviting me to read. The reading was recorded by a local spoken-word blogger – thank you, Dale – and I’ve […]
Mightily, the Overflood
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
I was going through some of my old travel journals and came across this little gem. These are tasting notes for Vinium Karalahna, a wine my wife and I drank plenty of during our honeymoon on the Turkish Island of Bozcaada: “Profound ruby red with violet tints allures to stare at it into depth and […]
Making Light of The Wall
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
This Israeli commercial for a cell phone company is a shameful example of how some Israelis view the Occupation. I don’t know what I find most offensive: the light-hearted portrayal of a symbol of apartheid, or the fact that the Palestinians in the commercial remain invisible.
Walls Book Update
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
I am still working on my walls book. Those who have been following my blog already know I’ve spent much of the last two years abroad conducting research for the book. So far I’ve visited Algeria, Morocco, the Western Sahara, Ceuta and Melilla, northeast India, Kashmir, Israel, Palestine and Cyprus. Starting in mid-August I will […]
After a long silence
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
I arrived home from Cyprus in May and have spent so much time hustling for freelance writing jobs that I have neglected this blog. It has been a strange few months. By the time I returned home my grant funding had dried out, I didn’t have a bartending job anymore, and my writer’s residecy would […]
Tavern Joys
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Friday night was one of those epic nights that make me happy I do what I do. I went in search of a Turkish Cypriot meyhane, a sort of tavern restaurant, that I’d read about. As always, I got lost, but this time I stumbled on the place accidentally as if on purpose. It was […]
