ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For help with this book, I offer my thanks first and foremost to the members of USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Teams, whose spirits serve as my inspiration, as well as to the international aid organizations worldwide that do such important work, including the Abhiyan Foundation, the World Food Programme, and Oxfam International; to Abhijeet Bhattacharjee, Pramodkumar Jethi, and Kimbro Frutiger for sharing their stories; to the following books for research assistance, The Disaster Gypsies by John Norris, Love in a Different Climate by Jeremy Seabrook, and Bhuj: Art, Architecture, History by Azhar Tyabji; to Michelle Brower and Vivian Lee for being tireless champions of this book; to my alpha readers, Jennifer Sears, Mickey Hawley, Sam Miller, and Suzan Sherman; to my beta reader, Cruce Stark; to my omega reader, Wah-Ming Chang; to the residencies where portions of this work were written, the Jentel Artist Residency, the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers, and the Brush Creek Arts Residency; to my family for their generous support in the early stages of my life; to the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts for generous support in the later stages in my life; to my professors and friends from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Houston; to my colleagues at the University of Delaware; to Gramsci, Simone, Cixous, and the memory of Gwinny, who bring joy to my life; and, finally, and most importantly, to Matthew, whose love, patience, and understanding save me, every day, from disaster.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © Paul Pruitt
Viet Dinh was born in Vietnam and grew up in Colorado. He attended Johns Hopkins University and the University of Houston and currently teaches at the University of Delaware. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts, as well as an O. Henry Prize. His stories have appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, Witness, Fence, Five Points, Chicago Review, the Threepenny Review, and the Greensboro Review.