Marcello Di Cintio, 2009 - 2010 Markin-Flanagan Canadian Writer-in-Residence

 Marcello Di Cintio is the 2009 - 2010 Canadian Writer-in-Residence. He will be in residence at the U of C from August 15, 2009 to June 15, 2010.

Di Cintio was born in Calgary and studied Microbiology and English at the University of Calgary. He was also a member of the U of C wrestling team. He graduated in 1997 with a pair of degrees (BA and BSc) and two cauliflower ears.

Later that year, Di Cintio travelled to West Africa with a volunteer organization, Canadian Crossroads International, and taught biology in a Ghanian village for three months. When his volunteer placement was complete, he travelled through western and northern Africa for nine months. Di Cintio's time amid the heat and colour of Africa led to a love affair with travel and resulted in his first book, Harmattan: Wind Across West Africa. Harmattan won the Henry Kriesel Award for Best First Book at the Alberta Book Awards.

Since then, he published articles in numerous magazines and literary journals including The Walrus, EnRoute, Geist, and The Globe and Mail. His writing received several honours including the 2002 Maclean-Hunter Endowment Prize for Creative Nonfiction, the Dave Greber Freeland Writers Award and a number of Western and National Magazine Award nominations.

Di Cintio travelled to Iran in 2003 - 2004 to discover the connection between Persian poets and traditional wrestlers. The resulting book, Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran, was published in 2006. Poets won the Wilfred Eggleston Prize for Best Nonfiction and was shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award.

 

Click here to visit Marcello's blog.