ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For the patient care they gave this book and for their guidance: Chad Luibl, Amanda Uhle, Amy Sumerton, and Cameron Finch.

For excellent insights and support, editorial and otherwise: Ahsan Butt, Beth Staples, and my Tin House 2019 people (you know who you are).

For her kindness and thoughtfulness since I first knew her in 1993: my English teacher Ms. Sawsan Imady, who wrote at the end of a 7th grade assignment, “Send me your first book.”

And for being there from the start of the main thing in a hundred different incomparable ways: Ali, Shehrezad, and Zaraar.