The Book Passage Travel & Food Writing & Photography Conference Turns 20

Travel Blog  •  Jim Benning  •  07.22.11 | 2:30 PM ET

I’ll be back on the faculty at the Book Passage Travel & Food Writing & Photography Conference Aug. 11-14 in Corte Madera, California.

Amazingly, the conference turns 20 this year. It has evolved in the digital age, to be sure, but it continues to be a four-day celebration of storytelling—a summer camp of sorts for wanderlust-prone travel and food writers and adventuresome photographers. I’ve met alumni who insist those four days changed their lives. Many return year after year.

What I love most about the conference, besides the fact that it takes place at a great Bay area bookstore, is that it brings faculty and students together during days for instruction and during evenings for meals, wine and conversation. There’s karaoke on Saturday night. I’m convinced the formal and informal gatherings are equally valuable.

This year’s faculty members include conference chair and editor extraordinaire Don George; Outside magazine founding editor Tim Cahill; “An Irreverent Curiosity” author David Farley; San Francisco Chronicle Travel Editor Spud Hilton; Los Angeles Times Travel Editor Catherine Hamm; Afar magazine Executive Editor Julia Cosgrove; Travelers’ Tales co-founder Larry Habegger; veteran photographer Robert Holmes; photographer and World Hum contributor Jeff Pflueger; and many, many others.

I’ll be co-teaching an online writing and blogging track with writer and ukulele evangelist Pam Mandel. We’ll cover both narrative writing and not-so-narrative blogging. We’ll dip our toes into multimedia waters, too. It should be good fun.



3 Comments for The Book Passage Travel & Food Writing & Photography Conference Turns 20

Laidlaw 07.22.11 | 4:11 PM ET

I just registered yesterday! It’s gonna be my first time, so “excited” is an understatement!

—Mark

Donovan Green 07.23.11 | 7:16 AM ET

Great content. I love it. I am looking forward to more great articles from you guys

Best regards,

Martha 07.24.11 | 4:53 PM ET

It is a good conference, but I must say II liked it better without the food (no offense to food writers). Enough to cover with photography and travel, and it make the faculty bigger, not always the best thing in this case.

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