ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

IN BIG MARQUEE LIGHTS:

Thank you to the members of my writing group, Ryan Turner, Stephanie Domet, Carsten Knox and Jaime Forsythe, for your steadfast company in this crazy racket.

Thank you to the earliest readers of my writing, Marie Fennell and Erin Smiley; to the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia; to the Banff Centre; and to the grant jury at Arts Nova Scotia for believing in the work that I do.

Thank you to Greg Hollingshead for beating the crap out of me (crap sentences, I should specify); to my amazing agent, Carolyn Forde, with whom I would rob a bank after witnessing such skilled precision (backup plan?); and to HarperCollins for fulfilling an exquisite promise to treat creator and creation as an inseparable entity.

Thank you to the wise and wonderful Padma Viswanathan. Your allegiance to this novel moved mountains. You have given me a rare gift, and I promise to someday do the same for another writer.

Thank you to my friends. Some of you are actual family members; the rest, just as close. You surround me with support even when the going gets tough, and it makes all the difference. Every one of you is crucial.

Thank you, Shawn Truman Bent. You’ve renewed my faith in love. You make me laugh so hard it disturbs the peace, and while I split my time in imaginary worlds, you do all the cooking, cleaning and wood chopping in the real one. It will be an honour to marry you.

A couple of years ago, an article in The New Yorker condemned author acknowledgements as a waste of space. I say the world needs more gratitude, not less. Ditching the acknowledgements would be like showing your film and not rolling the credits afterwards, or putting out an album without naming the audio engineer or any of the background singers. And so, a final shout out:

To Nova Scotia, you beautiful blue bastard. I am proud to come from a place where everyone says thank you, thank you, thank you.