Where in the World Are You, Eva Holland?
Travel Blog • World Hum • 09.12.07 | 2:50 PM ET
The subject of our latest nearly up-to-the-minute interview with a traveler somewhere in the world: Eva Holland, a new contributor to the World Hum blog. Her response landed in our inbox last night.
World Hum: Where in the world are you?
I’m sitting at my desk in my apartment in Ottawa, Canada. I live just west of downtown, near the river, in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood that hasn’t gotten too expensive yet.
What are you doing there?
Right now? Revising a story that’s due soon, and working on my first blogs for World Hum.
More generally, I moved back to Ottawa in December after a year in the UK, and have been working as a historical researcher and freelance writer ever since.
What do you see around you?
Post-It notes everywhere, all the “How to be a Freelance Writer” guides that my parents gave me for Christmas, bills, dust-bunnies…
Got a pic?
Why don’t I send you one of the Ottawa River nearby, instead? This is on my route to and from work every day.
What did you have for dinner last night, and where?
I just discovered this great little farmer’s market near my place, so I bought a bunch of fresh vegetables on my way home from work and made something involving zucchini, tomatoes, chilis and couscous. I don’t have a name for it yet, but it was tasty.
What music are you listening to these days?
I’m seriously into Motown and old-school soul lately—Stevie and Marvin, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, The Marvelettes, Otis Redding, Dusty Springfield. And when I’m writing I usually throw on Death Cab for Cutie, Feist, Counting Crows or Erik Satie.
What are you reading?
I’ve been taking my time with Video Night in Kathmandu by Pico Iyer for ages now, and just started John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley the other night—trying to get my classic travel literature up to scratch.
I’ve also been re-reading Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog, which is a totally mind-blowing memoir/history of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Krog was a radio journalist who covered the commission, but she also happens to be an award-winning Afrikaans-language poet. The book includes transcripts from the hearings and interviews with victims and perpetrators, but the best parts are Krog’s reflections on the process, as a journalist and as a white South African.
What did you experience in the last 24 hours that you’d recommend?
The farmer’s market was a great find. I’d also recommend a nice long walk along the river. And I just discovered the “Ottawa Room” at the public library, which is jammed full of every coffee-table book, local history and self-published pamphlet ever written about the city and surrounding area.
Where in the world are you headed next?
I’m chained to my desk for the next few months, so no big trips, but I’ve got plans to get out of town for the next four weekends in a row: Kingston, Ontario; Montreal; Syracuse, New York; and hopefully some hiking in the Saguenay region of Quebec for Canadian Thanksgiving.
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Marcelo Di Marco 09.20.07 | 4:18 PM ET
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