Chechnya has been utterly transformed in the past decade, in large part due to the efforts of a younger generation determined to rebuild the republic. My thanks to those whose help and hospitality made my travels in Chechnya possible. All these pages aren’t enough to convey my appreciation and respect.
At Stanford, I’m grateful for the support and feedback of Eavan Boland, Adam Johnson, Elizabeth Tallent, Tobias Wolff, and the Stegner Workshop that graciously read long pieces of this noveclass="underline" Josh Foster, Helen Hooper, David Kim, Dana Kletter, Justin Perry, Shannon Pufahl, Nina Schloesser, Justin Torres, Juliana Xuan Wang. And at Iowa: Erika Jo Brown, Scott Butterfield, Ethan Canin, Andres Carlstein, Lan Samantha Chang, Patrick Haas, Michelle Huneven, Allan Gurganus, Alexander Maksik, and Elizabeth McCracken. Jay Muranaka for his friendship. Christina Ablaza, Connie Brothers, Krystal Griffiths, Deb West, and Jan Zenisek for having the answer to just about everything.
To my family, my friends from D.C., and people who still know me as Haclass="underline" thank you.
Peter Orner, my thesis advisor, was the third person to read this novel.
Janet Silver, whose insight and generosity is felt on every page, was the second person.
Margaret Reges, the heroine in my own story, was first.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anthony Marra was born in Washington, D.C. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is currently a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing at Stanford University. He has won The Atlantic’s Student Writing Contest, the Narrative Prize, and the Pushcart Prize, and his work has been anthologized in Best American Nonrequired Reading. In 2012, he received the Whiting Writers’ Award. He has studied in, resided in, and traveled throughout Eastern Europe, and now lives in Oakland, California. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, his first novel, will be published in a dozen countries.