Book excerpt: Thousands of newcomers are pouring into Alberta from around the globe, bringing unexpected gifts. Many are writers and storytellers. What pulls them to Canada? What happens to them on the journey? What experiences have they deliberately left behind? What treasures do they bring? How do they describe their emerging sense of place and their creative aspirations in a new home? In this moving collection of stories and poems, writers from around the world share their thoughts on creating a life in Alberta. Expressed with beauty and clarity, and sometimes translated from the writer's native tongue, these very personal accounts of joy and sadness, regret and humour, homesickness and exuberance, describe the defining moments of a departure and an arrival. Contributors to The Story That Brought Me Here include Jalal Barzanji, Edmonton's first Writers in Exile; Rita Espeschit, Thuc Cong, Mohammed Al-Nassar, Monika Igali, Sabah Tahir, Therezinha Franca Kennedy, Sangmok Lee, Sudhir Jain, Yi Li, Athiann Makuach Garang, Marsh Hoke, Tortor Maruku, Reinekke Lengelle, Brian Brennan, A.K. Rashid, June Smith-Jeffries, Magdalena Witkowsky, Anna Mioduchowska, Ikponwosa I.K. Ero and Comfort Adesuwa Ero, Wilma Rubens, Patricia Lopez de Vloothduis, Neung-jae Park Mary Cavill, Mansoor Ladha, Chantal Hitayezu and many others. With photographs by Shabnam Sukhdev.