Travel Blog: Life of a Travel Writer
Confessions of a Frugal Traveler
by Eva Holland | 08.25.08 | 10:21 AM ET
So what’s the toughest part of life as a travel writer? New York Times Frugal Traveler (and World Hum contributor) Matt Gross bares his, er, soul, in this bluntly honest Nerve essay about life as a married travel columnist—and why his job can be an “exercise in sexual frustration.”
Related on World Hum:
* Q&A With Matt Gross: Reflections From a ‘Round-the-World Journey
* The (Frugal) Grand Tour
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzFrom the Times of London Archives: Thomas Cook’s Lost Dispatch
by Eva Holland | 08.22.08 | 11:16 AM ET
The latest in an ongoing series of “travel classics” from the Times of London’s seemingly bottomless vaults? Thomas Cook‘s six dispatches from a ‘round-the-world trip in the early 1870s. One of the just-published pieces, written from the Red Sea, never appeared in print before. Why? As we learn now from an editor, in those pre-email days, “[I]t did not reach London until the Parliamentary Season, when it was impossible to find room in the paper.” Better late than never, right?
Looking Back at the Book Passage Travel Writers Conference
by Jim Benning | 08.18.08 | 6:15 PM ET
I’ve received a few emails from writers and readers wondering how the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference went. (The four-day gathering ended yesterday and I was on the faculty.) The short answer: It was fantastic. It was my second year there and, as was the case last year, in spite of all the uncertainties in the publishing industry and the grim state of newspapers, I left feeling inspired—by the sharp, ambitious students as well as the accomplished writers and editors on the faculty.
Who Are America’s ‘Best Describers’?
by Michael Yessis | 08.18.08 | 2:23 PM ET
Jon Marshall asks, “Which newspaper writers are the best at describing people and places?” He nominates three terrific writers—Jeffrey Fleishman of the Los Angeles Times, Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times, and Dan Barry of the New York Times—but not one of them writes for the travel pages. Too bad. Newspaper travel sections are enduring tough times, but there are still some terrific describers toiling around the country. They deserve some shout outs.
William Wordsworth: Poet, Travel Guidebook Writer
by Jim Benning | 08.05.08 | 10:35 AM ET
Yes, the Romantic poet dabbled in guidebook writing. In 1835, he published “A Guide Through the District of the Lakes in the North of England,” the very same region where he once wandered lonely as a cloud. That’s but one of the interesting bits in Slate’s list of the 10 oddest guidebooks ever published. Why, exactly, did Wordsworth write the book? Garrison Keillor suggests he had money problems. No word on whether writing the guidebook condemned Wordsworth to eternal damnation. I’m thinking his poetry just might have saved him that fate.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘The Worst Guidebook Writer Ever’?
* Q&A With Thomas Kohnstamm: The Firestorm Around ‘Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?’
Q&A With Tom Swick, a Travel Editor Let Go
by Jim Benning | 07.31.08 | 5:03 PM ET
Every week brings more news of layoffs and downsizing in newspaper newsrooms across the United States. This week, one of our favorite travel editors and writers, Tom Swick, learned that his services were no longer desired. For 19 years, Swick edited the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s travel section, publishing an engaging mix of articles, columns and essays. His was among the best travel sections in the country, and Swick was the only newspaper travel editor whose own writing frequently appeared in “The Best American Travel Writing” anthologies. His layoff comes as part of a 20 percent cut in the Sun-Sentinel’s editorial staff. Swick cleared out his desk Tuesday. I chatted with him by phone today.
World Hum: Sorry we’re talking under these circumstances. Were you surprised by the news?
‘We Have Reached a Gilded, Rococo Age of Service Journalism’
by Jim Benning | 07.25.08 | 12:30 PM ET
Jason Wilson has a fine essay about the trouble with travel and “lifestyle” journalism in The Smart Set.
Is Commentary in Lonely Planet Guidebooks ‘Slanted’?
by Jim Benning | 07.22.08 | 3:13 PM ET
Australia’s The Age explores the issue, which, it’s worth noting, has been debated for years. Among the new questions here: What impact, if any, is new owner the BBC having on the guidebooks’ voice and perspective?
Related on World Hum:
* Lonely Planet at 30
Talking Travel and Travel Writing in Montreal
by Jim Benning | 07.16.08 | 2:27 PM ET
The CBC has posted audio of a 49-minute discussion on travel and travel writing from the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival this spring. The writers taking part: Angus Bell, Adriaan Van Dis, Karen Connelly and Charles Foran.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Dear American Airlines’ Author to Avoid American Airlines on Book Tour
* Travel Writing and Tall Tales: An Historical Perspective
* World Hum’s Top 30 Travel Books
Q&A with David Farley: The Restless Legs Reading Series
by Jim Benning | 07.09.08 | 12:10 PM ET
World Hum contributing editor David Farley recently announced the creation of the Restless Legs reading series in New York City, which will be devoted to travel writing. Farley knows just about every travel writer who passes through town, so he would seem the right person for the task. The first reading, which will feature travel writers Tony Perrottet and Cullen Thomas, is scheduled for Wednesday, July 23 at Lolita bar on the Lower East Side. I asked Farley a few questions about the series.
World Hum: How’d this come about?
Michael Palin: Travel Makes One ‘Less Afraid of the World’
by Julia Ross | 07.08.08 | 10:40 AM ET
At lunch with the Financial Times, the amiable BBC travel host chats up a Moldovan waitress, expounds on his love of atlases and tells tales about filming on the Pakistan border.
Tony Horwitz on Book TV Sunday
by Jim Benning | 06.06.08 | 1:51 PM ET
The author of “A Voyage Long and Strange,” featured in this World Hum interview, recently talked up his latest work at the great Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida—in front of C-SPAN cameras. The program will air twice on Sunday.
Is the Internet Ruining Travel?
by Eva Holland | 06.06.08 | 12:19 PM ET
Photo by dro!d via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Several high-profile British travel writers think so. In the Times of London, they weigh in on the proliferation of internet cafes, mass emails home and the rise of blogging from the road. Says Wanderlust editor Lyn Hughes: “I like to remember when ‘poste restante’ was the only way of getting in touch. It was so much more exciting then.”
2008 Book Passage Travel Writing Conference
by Jim Benning | 06.06.08 | 10:22 AM ET
This year’s Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference takes place August 14-17 in Corte Madera, California. I’ll be on the faculty, along with many writers and editors I admire: Simon Winchester, Tim Cahill, Isabel Allende, John Flinn, Tom Swick and (conference chair) Don George, just to name a few. If you’re interested in studying travel writing or photography and meeting editors and writers, it’s a conference well worth considering.
‘Dear American Airlines’ Author to Avoid American Airlines on Book Tour
by Michael Yessis | 05.29.08 | 3:11 PM ET
“This is probably wise, karmically speaking,” Jonathan Miles tells USA Today. The paper has a piece about Miles in which he reveals that his clever novel (I’m reading it now) was inspired by his own long delay at O’Hare and touches on how the title of his book follows the “Kinky Friedman precedent.”
