right before the oncoming train arrived. When Béchard was ten, his mother ran away from Canada with him and his siblings to live in Virginia. When he was almost fourteen, he learned that his father had been a bank robber, and decided to return to Vancouver to live with him, wanting to be a criminal as well. The memoir tells the story of his disillusionment with crime and his decision to pursue writing. He graduated from Marlboro College and received graduate degrees from Middlebury College and the University of Guelph. He was French editor at The Adirondack Review. Although in French "Deni" is normally spelled "Denis," his mother named him "Deni" because in French the ending "s" is silent and she wanted English speakers to pronounce his name correctly. His given name was Deni Yvan Béchard, but in 2015 he changed his middle name to Ellis (his mother's maiden name) because she had raised him and he wanted to honor her. He has traveled in over sixty countries and reported from India, Cuba, Rwanda, Colombia, Iraq, the Congo, and Afghanistan. He doesn't have a permanent home, though he is often in Boston, New York, and Montreal. He has been a finalist for a Canadian National Magazine Award and has been featured in Best Canadian Essays 2017. His journalism and photojournalism focus on environmental and human rights issues. He has done articles and photoessays on endangered wildlife, transgender soldiers, female vigilantes in India, dissident street art in Cuba, surveillance and the military in Afghanistan, as well as Afghan female athletes. Photos from his series on Afghan women cyclists has been reprinted in dozens of magazines, exhibited in the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, and featured in a Patagonia ad campaign for activism. In Afghanistan, he shot the video for part of a short film on Afghan women cyclists that was showcased by National Geographic. His articles, fiction, and photos have been published in newspapers and magazines around world, including the LA Times, Salon, Reuters, The Guardian, Patagonia, The Paris Review, La Repubblica, The Walrus, Pacific Standard, Le Devoir, Vanity Fair Italia, The Herald Scotland, The Huffington Post, The Harvard Review, The National Post, and Foreign Policy Magazine. Works Vandal Love (Doubleday Canada / Milkweed Editions, 2006) Cures for Hunger: A Memoir (Milkweed Editions / Goose Lane Editions, 2012) Of Bonobos and Men: A Journey to the Heart of the Congo (Milkweed