ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gratitude to the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council, The Banff Centre for the Arts, and to Alana Wilcox at Coach House Books for the Writer’s Reserve Grant—for giving me the space and time to write this book. As well as to Dave and Claire Cameron for the jewel in the woods.
I wish to thank my agent, Jane Finigan, for her heroic support and invaluable advice. To my editor, Nick Garrison at Penguin Random House, whose immeasurable insights have made this a far better book. I owe you at least one good bottle of scotch. And to Philip Gwyn Jones at Scribe UK, for wisdom and belief.
Thank you to Ani Castillo, Julie Gagné, Deborah Kirshner, Lisa Markon, Rahul Parekh, Lizabeth Ronk, Martin Spreer, Kevin Temple, and Camille Watts. To Alisha Piercy, Natalie Matutchovsky, and to Leonora Carrington, who let us into her house in Mexico City where a tree grew through it, for two magical afternoons. And whose astonishing mind and rebellious life helped this story take wing.
I am deeply grateful to Suzanne Sopinka, for lifelong love and support, and for being an example of how to live. And to Nick Sopinka, steadfast and true, my first editor, and the person I hold accountable for my problem with books. To Metro Sopinka, whose memoirs informed parts of this story. To Zoe McCready, Amy Sopinka, and Steve Sopinka—the best constellation. And to Claudia Dey, whose exquisite thinking and sistership have been integral in the writing of this book and beyond.
Thank you to Kes Lake, Soren Penn, and Winter Violet, who came into the world during the various stages of this book, and who compel me to want to make every single moment of this rare, wild life count. And to the inspired women, including Jill Connell, Kerri MacLellan, and Gabrielle MacLellan, who took care of them so well when I wrote. Lastly, thank you Jason Logan, for your extraordinary eye and brain and heart, and to whom this book is dedicated.
The Dictionary of Animal Languages Page 27