Elsewhere

It is 10:30pm in Reykjavic. Although it is still nearly daylight outside – strange, even for a Canadian used to long, northern days – Moonira and Amedeo are already asleep. We’ve done more walking in the five days we’ve been in Iceland than we have in the previous month at least. Our Iceland nights end […]

A long time ago, Avenue Magazine asked if I could write a story that applied what I’d learned during my walls-around-the-world research to Calgary. I considered the assignment, but decided that there wouldn’t be enough to write about. I returned to the idea a few months back, however, and sent out a call to my […]

“Juggling Act,” my story about The Palestinian Circus School that appeared in Eighteen Bridges magazine, is up for a National Magazine Award. The story attracted a fair bit of criticism from readers who felt the piece was one-sided. I am honoured, though, that the NMA jury disagreed. You can read the story here.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to travel check traps on an Alberta trapline with trappers Emily Lamb and Bill Abercrombie.  Lamb is one of the most interesting young women I’ve met in a long time, and what she and Bill had to say about trapping surprised me. Rather than adhering to the stereotype […]

I wrote very few magazine stories in 2013, but a couple of pieces I did manage to squeeze out have been nominated for Alberta Magazine Awards. The stories are competing against each other – along with some fine work written, mainly, by friends of mine – in the short feature category. The first story, called […]

I wrote an op-ed for the International New York Times about how the walls act upon the flesh. As I say in the piece, the economic and political ramifications of wall-building is oft-discussed. So, too, are the psychological effects of the walls on those that live in their shadows. I examine all of this in […]

For no apparent reason, I’ve started a Facebook page for my 2006 book Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran. I’ll be posting stuff about Persian poetry, Iranian wrestling, and any other Iran-o-centric matter I find compelling. If you are interested, you can find the page here.

Here is an essay I wrote last summer for UK edition of Conde Nast Traveller. What draws tourists to the walls? The article appeared in the August issue, but you can read it here.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog, when I was last in Palestine I visited the Prisoners’ Library in Nablus. The library holds a collection of books from two now-shuttered Israeli prison libraries. The books were read by Palestinian inmates during the 1970s and 80s and provide a fascinating glimpse into what was on the […]

I am happy to have been part of an interactive feature on The Guardian‘s webpage. “Walled World” describes, in pictures and texts, many of the world’s walls, fences and border barriers. I wrote about some of these walls in my book – and contributed the section on the Western Sahara to the project – but […]