Stanfords

Last month was wonderful. It took me to London, where I interviewed Tharik Hussain, Monisha Rajesh, and Colin Thubron at a live event at Stanfords and attended the 2022 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards (award winners and nominees at the previous link). Social events drain me, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good to meet people and talk about literature. I came back to Florida buzzing and with a full heart, despite the audio recording of the live event failing....

Friends, February was a busy month. I read through the 2022 Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year list (I’m honored to be on the judging panel this year). And I’ve also been preparing for a live event at Stanfords in Covent Garden on March 2 with Colin Thubron, Monisha Rajesh, and Tharik Hussain. If you’re in London, stop by and say hello. I have also been doing research on the Black Hills, the Lakota Sioux Native Americans, and Mount Rushmore....

Dear Friends, I’m back in Florida where the hamster wheel continues its violent, endless spin. And it took all of a few weeks since returning from France for my mind to focus on elsewhere, that special place defined in the negative. Elsewhere is anywhere but here. I’ve found that elsewhere is also temporal designation. It is anywhere — in the past or in the future — but the present. But I’m not lost in some nostalgic reverie....

Bonjour from a wintery Brittany, where the morning sun doesn’t break until around 9 am and hangs low in the sky for the rest of the day. On the rare days without clouds, long shadows stretch across the ground in what seems to be a day-long golden hour, the world bathed in amber. Most often, though, gray clouds have blanketed the region. I am sitting in Le Bacardy, a cafe-cum-bar adjacent to the Châteaubriant town hall....