Thank you firstly to my editor, Michelle MacAleese. You are brilliant. Your endless support and keen insight made me better; I appreciate each gentle “haircut” and every tough question. (Also, I would be remiss not to thank you for your dedication to ensuring all meetings have gluten-free cookies.)
A huge thank you as well to the rest of the team at House of Anansi Press for your belief in this book and your care and enthusiasm at every step. To Shelley Ambrose and Sarah MacLachlan: thank you both for dreaming up The Walrus Books; I am honoured to be part of it.
A particular thank you to Maria Golikova for your grace, humour, and patience throughout the production process; to Catherine Marjoribanks for a sharp, incredibly thoughtful, and bang-on copyedit; to Gemma Wain for your fine-tooth comb; to Siusan Moffat for a delightful and comprehensive index; to Laura Brady for speedy and attentive typesetting; to Alysia Shewchuk for a beautiful, perfect cover; and to Curtis Samuel, for his work in shining a spotlight on my work.
And to the entire team at The Walrus: you are amazing; you create wonderful, compelling, important things every day in that basement. Thank you especially to Carmine Starnino for your guidance on and astute editing of all The Walrus pieces that sparked the ideas in this book, and to Jessica Johnson for being supportive during a very hectic year. And, of course, to the Coven: you are magic, always. Thank you, digital witches.
I also couldn’t have done this book without the support of the Chawkers Foundation. The foundation invests in journalism that propels the Canadian conversation, and it supports projects writers may not otherwise have the opportunity to make. It’s vital work, and I’m grateful for it.
Thank you also to my agent, Hilary McMahon, for always going to bat for me. And to my closest, oldest friends: you know who you are. Thank you for being your awesome selves, for putting up with my ridiculous schedule and general delinquency as I worked on this book, and also for ensuring I took much-needed breaks. I am so lucky to have you all. To my family: you are all powerful, incredible, dynamic, generous women. Thank you for teaching me, thank you for being there, thank you for everything.
Kylan, you make everything brighter. Thank you for bringing me plants during tough times (even when they continue to have a 50 percent survival rate). Thank you for listening, for going on your own journey into feminism, and for joining me on every adventure.
A final thank you to everyone I interviewed and who shared their visions for a more equitable, kinder, interesting world. Your time and insights were appreciated. You are all inspiring. You are all fierce. Your work is so worthy. I cannot wait to see what you create. Let’s tear up the rule book and start building.