Travel Blog: Life of a Travel Writer
Study Travel Writing in Paris
by Jim Benning | 02.20.07 | 12:30 PM ET
World Hum contributor Rolf Potts will teach creative writing in Paris once again this summer. No word yet on whether, afterward, he’ll walk across Andorra.
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Yahoo! Buzz‘People Are Always Telling Me to Put Down My Notepad and Enjoy the Experience’
by Jim Benning | 02.13.07 | 12:54 PM ET
So says Concierge.com editor Peter J. Frank, who discusses his work in the Frequent Flier column of today’s New York Times. Call me crazy, but I have to agree with those people: Peter, please, put down the stupid notepad and enjoy the experience.
Should Travel Writers Discourage Flying to Reduce Global Warming?
by Jim Benning | 02.08.07 | 1:36 PM ET
Or do the benefits of world travel—namely greater understanding across cultures—outweigh the damage air travel causes to the environment? A number of writers have been debating the issue in an interesting thread on Travelwriters.com. Wrote “Petra” to kick off the discussion: “I myself, being based in Britain, have decided that I will write about travel in the UK from now on (and believe me - I enjoy overseas travel). I know that rail and automobile travel within our shores will add to the problem, but not to the extent that air travel does. How do you, as travel writers, salve your conscience with regard to the effect air travel will have on global warming?”
Related on World Hum:
* Scientists Unveil ‘Silent, Energy-Efficient Plane’
* Can Slow Travel Save the Planet?
* Airplanes and Climate Change: The Guardian’s Week-Long Debate
Kapuscinski: ‘I Sometimes Call it Literature by Foot’
by Jim Benning | 02.05.07 | 2:05 PM ET
One other note on journalist and travel writer Ryszard Kapuscinski, who died last month at the age of 74. Granta has posted an interview Bill Buford conducted with the writer, which was originally published in 1987.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: The Explorers
by Michael Yessis | 02.02.07 | 9:38 AM ET
Travelers appear top of mind this week, not destinations. The journeys of Daisann McLane, Bill Bryson, Paulina Porizkova, Martin Sargent, celebrity watchers and Dora the Explorer lead off the Zeitgeist.
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* We like this book.
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Martin Sargent: Web Drifter
Remembering Kapuscinski: ‘He Was a Deity’
by Jim Benning | 01.31.07 | 2:13 PM ET
Fittingly, the death of acclaimed Polish journalist and travel writer Ryszard Kapuscinski last week prompted a number of remembrances and appreciations. “He was a deity in Poland, where I lived and reported for about half of the 1990s, and he was a deity among correspondents in Africa, where I spent the rest of the decade,” recalled Neely Tucker in the Washington Post. “Correspondents in Africa have two authors on their shelves: Graham Greene and Kapuscinski.”
Tom Bissell: ‘Ramblin’ Man’
by Jim Benning | 01.30.07 | 6:49 PM ET
Writer Tom Bissell gets the profile treatment in Publisher’s Weekly. Bissell is the author of Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia and the forthcoming “The Father of All Things,” among other books. His essay Truth in Oxiana and his story War Zones for Idiots have appeared on World Hum.
Daisann McLane: ‘Learning Cantonese’ in Hong Kong
by Jim Benning | 01.29.07 | 9:20 AM ET
Tony Perrottet on the Intersection of Travel and History
by Jim Benning | 01.26.07 | 11:40 AM ET
Author Tony Perrottet knows a thing or two about travel and history. His books include Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists. His World Hum story The Joy of Steam is featured in this year’s The Best American Travel Writing anthology. Now, he’s planning to teach an intriguing, unconventional new course about the intersection of writing, travel and history. It’s called The Past on the Page: Bringing History to Life, and it begins March 1 at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. To learn more, I e-mailed Perrottet to ask a few questions. He wrote back today from Tortola, of all places, where he had gone “to thaw out.”
R.I.P. Ryszard Kapuściński
by Jim Benning | 01.24.07 | 12:26 PM ET
The acclaimed Polish journalist and author died Tuesday in Warsaw at the age of 74. This morning, Poland’s parliament remembered him with a moment of silence. Kapuściński is the author of “The Soccer War,” among other books, which ranked fourth on our list of the top 30 travel books of all time. We’ll have more on Kapuściński soon.
UK Guidebook Writers: ‘Readers are Getting a Poorer Experience’
by Michael Yessis | 01.24.07 | 8:33 AM ET
Don George on Leaving Lonely Planet and the Future of Travel
by Jim Benning | 01.08.07 | 3:20 PM ET
Colin Thubron Awarded Commander of the British Empire
by Michael Yessis | 01.02.07 | 7:42 AM ET
Colin Thubron, whose Behind the Wall finished at No. 23 in our countdown of the top 30 travel books of all time, has been awarded the Commander of the British Empire. Others gaining recognition from the British government include writer Alexander McCall Smith and singer Rod Stewart.
Related on World Hum:
* Colin Thubron and the ‘Shadow of the Silk Road’
* Bill Bryson Becomes Made Man in Britain
Reflections on a Year Well-Traveled
by Jim Benning | 12.18.06 | 2:56 PM ET
Usually when the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Thomas Swick looks back on his year of travels, it’s the people he met that stand out most clearly. “But this year they came up against some stiff competition,” he recalls in Sunday’s paper. “Sights (sights!) kept trying to upstage humans. They started early one morning in February when I looked out the window of my plane and saw the lush green folds of Tahiti below. I flew on to the Cook Islands, swam in Aitutaki’s lagoon, returned to Papeete, sailed on a ferry to Moorea, but nothing matched that first, kingfisher’s-eye view of the South Pacific.” Among other highlights, Swick mentions visits to India and Poland.
What Do Yaks, Sword Wounds and Voodoo Consultations Have in Common?
by Jim Benning | 12.18.06 | 7:30 AM ET
