Marcello Di Cintio a Calgary freelance writer is the 2009-2010 Markin-Flanagan Canadian Writer-in-Residence at the University of Calgary and the 2009 winner of the Dave Greber Freelance Writers. Magazine Award.
Geist Magazine has recently published the winning article titled Walls of Shame which is an adaptation of a chapter from his book in progress about communities that live in the shadow of walls, fences and other “hard” barriers.
The award ceremony was held at the EPCOR CENTRE during a special evening welcoming Mr. Di Cintio as the 2009-2010 Markin -Flanagan Canadian Writer-in-Residence and was hosted by the University of Calgary Alumni Association. Chancellor Joanne Cuthbertson welcomed Shirley Dunn, Award Developer, who gave the prize to Mr. Di Cintio. In his acceptance speech Mr. Di Cintio stated that the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Awards and the Markin-Flanagan Distinguished Writers Program are similar in that they both make it possible for writers to write.
Marcello Di Cintio lived his entire life in Calgary, and graduated from the University of Calgary in 1997 with degrees in English and Science. He began his writing career in 2000, after traveling for nine months through Western and Northern Africa. His inaugural travel memoir Harmattan: Wind Across West Africa won the Henry Kriesel Award for Best First Book at the 2003 Alberta Books Awards. In 2005 he won the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Book Award for his submission, In the Holy City, Pilgramage, a chapter from his book Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey into the Heart of Iran. The book won the Wilfred Eggleston Prize for Best Nonfiction and was short-listed for the Edna Staebler Award. He has published articles in numerous magazines and literary journals, including the Walrus, EnRoute, Geist, The Globe and Mail, and WestWorld. He received the 2002 Maclean Hunter Endowment Prize for creative non-fiction and a number of Western and National Magazine Award nominations. He is in residence at the University of Calgary as the Markin-Flanagan Canadian Writer-in-Residence until June 15, 2010.