[Genius Loci] May 2022

My in-laws have been in town, and the courses I teach have been wrapping up, so there will be no long personal update this month. But, I must say that I’ve been doing research on Bolivia and Peru when I’m not playing tour guide and grading papers (I took the photo above from the Daytona Beach pier). Barring unforeseen circumstances, I’ll be off to the Andes in August to do field research for a book and to carry out a few side projects. More on this very soon. But I’ll leave you with that until I reveal more next month.

Now, onto what you came for:

Last month we published

※ A podcast with Sara Wheeler and Jonathan Chatwin about The Worst Journey in the World on Travel Writing World ※ A podcast with Rebecca Lowe about her book The Slow Road to Tehran on Travel Writing World ※ An author profile of Ben Aitken on Travel Writing World

The roundup

🗺 Stanford’s book of the month is Exiles by William Atkins. The bookstore also has a few in-person author talks scheduled for this month.

📖 The Travel Writer and Photographer Conference at Book Passage is back!

↪️ Rolf Potts speaks with Alastair Humphreys on his podcast Deviate.

👂 Jo Frances Penn speaks with Brianna Madia about travel and happiness on her Books and Travel Podcast.

📚 Michelle Jana Chan speaks with Horatio Clare and Brigid Delaney on her podcast The Wandering Book Collector.

🎧 The Remembering Yugoslavia Podcast devotes an episode to Balkan Travel Writers.

⚠️ The “End of Tourism” Podcast has an episode with travel writing critic Mary Louise Pratt.

🗣 Travel Writers John Krich and Anne P. Beatty are profiled on Rolf Potts’ blog.

🗺 Stanfords posted a few extracts of new travel books on their blog.

📚 Michel Kerr reports on the shortlist for the Ondaatje Prize, which celebrates a work “that best evokes the spirit of a place,” on Deskbound Traveller. Longlist here: RSL Ondaatje Prize 2022 Longlist Announced.

🚴 Dervla Murphy says “I’m lucky to still be enjoying being alive” as she is profiled in the FT.

🍂 A trip through the leaves: a look at great travel writing, old and new.

🥇 The National Geographic Traveller Travel Writing Competition 2022 is open for entries.

✈️ I’m a Travel Writer, but I Don’t Fly — Here’s Why.

✍️ Review: An open door: new travel writing for a precarious century.

🇮🇳 Nitin Chaudhary, On The Art Of Travel Writing.

💪 18 Female Phenoms of Nature Writing.

🦸‍♀️ 14 Books About Nature by Women Writers.

🌱 Nature Writing is Survival Writing: On Rethinking a Genre.

🌞 Nature writing should strive for clarity not sentimentality.

🎉 Hay Festival 2022: A Program of More than 500 Speakers.

🇬🇷 Lawrence Durrell’s account of life on the island of Corfu: A Greek Island’s Magical Impact.

🇮🇶 Building the First Long-Distance Hiking Trail in Kurdistan.

💶 A review of Robert Kaplan’s new book Adriatic: Looking for Europe’s Future in an Overlooked Corner of the Continent.

🇯🇵 Craig Mod on Walking in a Fading Corner of Japan.

🗿 ‘Happy Easter X’: Missing set of valuable Charles Darwin notebooks returned with note.

💊 Where have all the artist-addicts gone?

💾 What Lies Beneath: the internet is decaying all around us.

🇿🇼 Nick Brandt: The Day May Break photographs about climate in Zimbabwe and Kenya.

🏆 Slideshow: 2022 World Press Photo Contest Global winners.

♿️ The travel photo project that aims to change the meaning of ‘all-inclusive.’

🇦🇫 Marc Riboud on the Friendship of Strangers in Afghanistan | Magnum Photos Magnum Photos.

🗞 Why So Many Blogs and Newsletters Aren’t Worth the Writer’s Effort.

🎓 Why You Should Consider a University Press for Your Book.

⑨ The 9 Biggest Myths About Nonfiction Trade Publishing, Debunked

🐾 Harper Select, a new HarperCollins imprint, will publish memoir and narrative nonfiction starting this November.

📈 WH Smith’s High Street Sales Flat While Travel Recovered.

Books received (bought and/or gifted)

🇵🇬 Benedict Allen, Explorer 🇪🇺 Robert Kaplan, Adriatic 🇮🇹 Lucie Tournebuze and Guillaume Dutreix, Magical Venice: The Hedonist’s Guide 🇮🇸 Bertrand Jouanne and Gunnar Freyr, Stunning Iceland: The Hedonist’s Guide 🛫 Pat Backley, Seventy Years Worth of Travels ✊ Chris Anthony, THANKS, WE’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE