News & Opinion

A Hard Place to Leave Wins a Lowell Thomas Award

Marcia DeSanctis's probing, evocative, and transporting memoir was honored with the prestigious 2023 Lowell Thomas Award. A Hard Place to Leave took the bronze award in the Travel Book category. Restless to leave, eager to return: this memoir in essays captures the unrelenting pull between the past and the present, between traveling the world and staying home.

Melissa Febos in The New York Times had this to say about the book: “Intrepid and empathetic, gifted with the dispassionate gaze of a born observer…a  harmonious collage of worldview and character, a wunderkammer of experiences in a life fully lived.”

Congratulations, Marcia!

A Hard Place to Leave Wins a Lowell Thomas Award2023-09-13T11:44:41-07:00

Winners of the Seventeenth Annual Solas Awards

The Travelers’ Tales editors and this year’s guest judge Scott Dominic Carpenter are proud to announce the winners of the Seventeenth Annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Story of the Year. Grand Prize winner Cherene Sherrard collected $1000 and the gold award for “The Weight of Paradise,” her moving tale about surfing while Black off the beaches of Oahu, Hawaii. Brian Reisinger won the silver award and $750 for “Ambush on the Cumberland Plateau,” his multigenerational story about hunting wild hogs in Appalachia. Pier Nirandara took the bronze award and $500 for “To the Young Mom on Flight 1122,” her tale about a trip to South Africa that is marked by grief. Here’s the complete list of winners.
Winners of the Seventeenth Annual Solas Awards2023-03-15T03:38:38-07:00

RIP Sean O’Reilly

TT has said goodbye to our beloved colleague Sean O’Reilly, who died of cancer December 6 at the age of 70. As editor-at-large for Travelers’ Tales since the 1990s, Sean helped develop and edit many books, and he was instrumental in managing the annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Story of the Year from their inception in 2006. His favorite travels took him to the South Pacific, Malaysia, China, Australia, New Zealand, and all over Europe. Outside the travel writing world he wrote a number of controversial books on men’s behavior and society, including How to Manage Your D.I.C.K; Authority, Creativity and the Third Imperium; God Has Skin in the Game: How a New Understanding of Politics and the Soul Could Change America. He was also an entrepreneur with multiple enterprises in various realms: book distribution, transportation, and online sales. Sean’s humor, strength of will, and eternal pursuit of truth endure in the hearts of his family and friends. He is survived by his wife, five sons, one daughter, six siblings, and dozens of nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, and godchildren.

 
RIP Sean O’Reilly2023-01-30T17:19:49-08:00

Winners of the 16th Annual Solas Awards

We're thrilled to announce the winners of the Sixteenth Annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Story of the Year. Grand Prize winner Patrick Ritter collected $1000 and the gold award for “Boots Bilong Mi,” his outlandish tale of cultural encounter on a dugout canoe journey down Papua New Guinea’s Sepik River. Janna Brancolini won the silver award and $750 for “Honor and the Sea,” her fascinating illumination of Honor Frost’s lifetime of work in underwater archaeology. Robert Fama took the bronze award and $500 for “The Shakeout Trip,” his formative tale of traveling to Timbuktu with a companion on an unusual quest.

Find the complete list of winners and more about the Solas Awards at BestTravelWriting.com.
Winners of the 16th Annual Solas Awards2022-05-02T15:53:17-07:00

Now Available in Print and Audiobook: French Like Moi

French Like MoiScott Dominic Carpenter's hilarious new book on Paris is here, and the critics are loving it. Here's what a few have to say:

“A delightful read…filled with levity and grace.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Carpenter has a knack for turning catastrophes into comedy.” —Publishers Weekly

"French Like Moi is a true original: a serious memoir that doesn’t take itself too seriously." —Marcia DeSanctis, New York Times bestselling author of 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go

“Carpenter shares hilarious faux pas and cultural differences, reading with a deadpan, self-deprecating, understated tone. An affectionate, insider’s look at French culture.” —Booklist, Audiobook

Get a print copy now! Buy the audiobook on Libro.fm.

Now Available in Print and Audiobook: French Like Moi2020-11-26T15:56:39-08:00