Braco (40 page)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to express my gratitude to Rebecca Rose and the staff of Breakwater Books including Elisabeth de Mariaffi, my editor James Langer, and Rhonda Molloy for making this publication possible.

I'd like to thank Paul Butler who was there from the beginning and helped bring this novel to life. I'd also like to thank Marjorie Doyle and Michelle Butler Hallett for their mentorship and the Writer's Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador for sponsoring the Mentorship Program. I also want to thank the Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union for sponsoring the Fresh Fish Award and thank the three judges: Annamarie Beckel, Sue Goyette, and Craig Francis Power.

I'd like to express my appreciation to Memorial University's Department of English and Donna Walsh for getting me started in the program. Thanks to Lisa Moore, Kathleen Winter, Marie Wadden, Mary Lewis, Nancy Pedri, Robert Finley, Lawrence Mathews, Jean Guthrie, Lynette Adams, Scott Bartlett, Matthew Daniels, Susan MacDonald, Leslie Vryenhoek, John Reiti, Zach Goudie, Mark Bath, Aimee Wall, Wanda Nolan, Heidi Wicks, Mary Pike, Danielle Tucker, Gavin Simms, Danny Bridger, Stephen Gosse, Sara Inkpen, Chris Hibbs, and Penny Moores.

A special thank you to all those who helped with various programs and readings and to those who offered information, translations, and editorial feedback: Susan Rendell, Debbie Hynes, Mary Dalton, Danielle Devereaux, Théa Morash, Marilyn Dumont (Athabasca U), Gill Eaton, Ruth Ryan, Lisa Ryan, Stephan Ryan, Hannah Heale, Kali Heale, Andrew Heale, Chris10a (Netherlands), Gasper Atelsek, Hafiz Cej, Chris Joy, Rik Taafe, Sherry McGarvie, and finally, an extra special thanks to OzT for taking care of the cats.

Thanks to The Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies for their comprehensive report on Srebrenica and to the following authors whose works have helped ensure a realistic depiction of the events in and around Srebrenica from July 11 to 16, 1995: David Rohde (
End Game
), Emir Suljagi
(Postcards from the Grave
), Sheri Fink, M.D. (
War Hospital
), Chuck Sudetic (
Blood and Vengeance
), Jan Willem Honig and Norbert Both (
Srebrenica: Record of a War Crime
) and Nicholas Kent (
Srebrenica
).

And I'd like to thank Jacques Rioux for bringing Atif into my life.

LESLEYANNE RYAN
was born and raised in St. John's, Newfoundland. A Canadian Armed Forces veteran, she served as a peacekeeper in Bosnia from October 1993 to April 1994. For her years in service, she received The Canadian Forces Decoration, United Nations Protection Force Medal, and the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal. Her writing has won four Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Awards, and in 2011, she won The Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union's Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers.
Braco
is her first novel.