Travel Writing World

This is just a quick announcement to say that in celebration of the 2022 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, I’ll be in Stanfords’ London bookstore on March 2 speaking with Colin Thubron and Tharik Hussain about their award-nominated books and about genre of travel writing. We will be also be joined by special guest Monisha Rajesh. After the conversation, there will be an audience Q&A. 

Because of space limitations, the event is ticketed. Like all of Stanfords’ events, a ticket costs £5, which, from what I understand, will be returned to you in the form of store credit for one of the authors’ books and in the liquid currency of a soft drink or a glass of wine. 

To register for the event, or to learn more about it, visit travelwritingworld.com/london2022 (you will be redirected to Stanfords’ event page). 

If you’re in London on March 2, please stop by Stanfords in Covent Garden and say hello. The event starts at 6:30 pm.  

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Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Joining me today is Nori Jemil. Her book, The Travel Photographer’s Way (Bradt 2021), was nominated for the 2022 Edward Stanford Travel Photography Book of the Year. In this conversation, we do talk about her book. But, as you’ll hear, the conversation quickly becomes a deluge of helpful advice about photography. And we only scratch the surface here when it comes to what she covers in the book. We talk about gear, planning and organization, knowing your camera well, pitching, and a lot more.

Purchase The Travel Photographer's Way by Nori Jemil

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links as. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes, newsletters, & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Joining me today is Ursula Pike. In the mid 1990s, Ursula boarded a plane to Bolivia and began her term of service in the Peace Corps. A member of the Karuk Tribe, Pike expected to make meaningful connections with other Indigenous people  around the world. But her experiences forced her to question her assumptions about the world.

Ursula wrote about her time in Bolivia in her new book, An Indian Among Los Indígenas: A Native Travel Memoir (Heyday 2021).

So, we talk about identity, the Peace Corps, and neoliberalism in the context of her experiences. We also talk about revisiting old travel journals, truth in writing memoir, and more.

Purchase An Indian Among Los Indigenas by Ursula Pike

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links as. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes, newsletters, & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Joining me today are Gary Fisher and David Robinson, two historians who recently edited a new volume of essays called Travel Writing in the Age of Global Quarantine (purchase here). 

Gary and David are historians and this episode touches on some of the academic debates about the genre of travel writing. If this conversation interests you, I recommend that you also go back and listen to episode 57, which is a conversation I had about these topics with Tim Hannigan.

Today’s conversation is a critical one about subjectivity’s fundamental role in travel literature and in academic and scientific discourse, the importance of reading older travel narratives, why personal context enriches literature, and why reading and writing travel writing is important, even in an age of global pandemic, environmental crisis, and geopolitical turmoil.

Anyway, there is a lot here so I hope you enjoy it.

Purchase Travel Writing in the Age of Global Quarantine by Gary Fisher and David Robinson

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links as. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes, newsletters, & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Cal Flyn. Photo by Rebecca Marr.

Cal Flyn joins me today to talk about her newest book, Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape (Viking 2021), which is one of my top books of the year.

In addition to talking about her book, Cal and I chat about genre, form, and the first person in nature and travel writing. 

Connect with Cal Flyn on her website or on Twitter and Instagram.

Purchase Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links as. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes, newsletters, & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Graydon Hazenberg (right) and his cycling companions.

Joining me today is Graydon Hazenberg. In 1998, Graydon, his twin sisters, and a friend rode bicycles for nearly four months from Islamabad to Mount Kailash in Tibet. He wrote about his adventure in his new travelogue, Pedalling to Kailash: Cycling Adventures and Misadventures Across the Roof of the World (2021). 

Now, Graydon’s book is special not just because of the challenging nature of his adventure, but because he — as you’ll hear him mention — embarked on different type of challenge in self-publishing the book after nearly 25 years.

We also talk about what traveling to Tibet was like in the late 1990s, how plotting waypoints on maps helped him reconstruct the journey and write, and his path to to self-publishing. 

Connect with Graydon Hazenberg on his website or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Purchase Pedalling to Kailash by Graydon Hazenberg

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes, newsletters, & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Joining me today is Pamela Petro. We’re talking about her new memoir, The Long Field, which was published by Little Toller Books this year.

We talk about her experiences in Wales and the Welsh word hiraeth, one of the book’s central ideas. We also dig into the rocky terrain of homesickness, longing, and memoir. On the topic of memoir, we talk about the pains associated with writing one, tone, and deriving universal truths from subjective experiences.

Connect with Pamela Petro on her website or on Twitter.

Purchase The Long Field by Pamela Petro

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes, newsletters, & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Joining me today is Jordan Salama. We’re talking about his debut book, Every Day the River Changes: Four Weeks Down the Magdalena, which was published November 16, 2021. 

We talk about the Magdalena River, of course, but we also talk about people who live along it and storytelling. We also talk about the future of travel writing, de-centering the self, and about the critical importance of community in any writing project.

Connect with Jordan Salama on his website, or on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Purchase Every Day the River Changes: Four Weeks Down the Magdalena by Jordan Salama

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes, newsletters, & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

In this bonus episode, I’m speaking with J.R. Patterson. James is a freelance writer, and he also reviews books for Travel Writing World.

In this episode, we talk about his approach to reviewing travel books and his article on Hidden Compass, where he recounts his experiences and failures traveling down the São Francisco River in Brazil. Check out his article and consider donating to his campaign.

We also talk about leaning on the travel literature of the past, the role of the self in travel literature, and the art of book reviewing.

Connect with J.R. Patterson on his website or on Twitter.

Purchase Travel Books

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes, newsletters, & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Joining me today is Tharik Hussain. We’re talking about his debut book, Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe, which was published in June 2021 by Bradt and nominated for the Baille Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.

In addition to chatting about his new book, we talk about dominant historical narratives, colonial cruft in travel literature, and decolonizing travel writing. Tharik also shares his experiences on his path to getting his book published and some candid insight into developing an area of expertise.

Connect with Tharik Hussain on his website, or on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Purchase Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe by Tharik Hussain

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes, newsletters, & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Also, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Alternatively, you can join the Genius Loci Newsletter to get monthly roundups of travel writing news.

Thanks for your support!

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!