Edited by James O’Reilly, Larry Habegger, and Sean O’Reilly
Introduction by Sara Wheeler
“Travelers’ Tales books luxuriate in that complicated, beautiful, shadowy place where the best stories begin, and the most compelling characters roam free.”
—Foreword Magazine
The Best Travel Writing 2008 is the fifth volume in the annual Best Travel Writing series launched in 2004 to celebrate the world’s best travel writing—from Nobel Prize winners to emerging writers. These 29 stories cover the globe, from discovering a piece of the past in Beirut to probing the layers of Flamenco in Spain to submitting to psychic surgery in the Philippines. The points of view and perspectives are global, and themes encompass high adventure, spiritual growth, romance, hilarity and misadventure, service to humanity, and encounters with exotic cuisine.
In The Best Travel Writing 2008 readers will:
- Hear the singing sand dunes on the Skeleton Coast in Namibia with Clive Crook
- Kayak a wild, flooding river in the Peruvian Amazon with Sarahlee Lawrence
- Fathom the scale of the universe and the scope of the earth on a years-long sailing voyage with Matthew Link
- Travel on horseback over the Mongolian steppes to the fabled city of Karakorum with Erika Connor
- Discover the dark side of paradise on the island of Tortola with Richard Goodman
- Follow in the footsteps of The Snow Leopard with Michael McCarthy in Nepal
- Redefine the meaning of “Adventure Traveler” in Thailand with Rolf Potts…and much more.
About the Editors
James O’Reilly, publisher of Travelers’ Tales, has visited more than forty-five countries, along the way meditating with monks in Tibet, participating in West African voodoo rituals, living in the French Alps, and hanging out the laundry with nuns in Florence and penguins in Antarctica. He travels extensively with his wife, Wenda, and their three daughters. They live in Palo Alto, California, where they also publish art games and books for children at Birdcage Press (www.birdcagepress.com).
Larry Habegger, executive editor of Travelers’ Tales, has been writing about travel since 1980. He has visited six of the seven continents, traveling from the Arctic to equatorial rainforests, the Himalayas to the Dead Sea. He regularly teaches the craft of travel writing at workshops and writers’ conferences (www.larryhabegger.com).
Sean O’Reilly, editor-at-large for Travelers’ Tales, is the author of a groundbreaking book on men’s behavior, How to Manage Your DICK: Redirect Sexual Energy and Discover Your More Spiritually Enlightened, Evolved Self (www.dickmanagement.com). His travels of late have taken him through China, Thailand, Indonesia, and the South Pacific, and his most recent non-travel project is redbrazil.com, a bookselling site.
About Travelers’ Tales
Founded in 1993, Travelers’ Tales publishes the best travel writing from world-famous authors and emerging writers, with the goal to inspire and enlighten readers through true stories by travelers who have explored the depths of their experiences. The award-winning series includes: country and regional guides; books that explore the themes of women’s travel, spirituality, food, humor, and adventure; travel advice books; single-author travel narratives; and Travelers’ Tales Classics, a series which introduces out-of-print favorites of travel literature to a new audience.
Travelers’ Tales…the Power of a Good Story
Edited by James O’Reilly, Larry Habegger, and Sean O’Reilly
Travelers’ Tales, March 2008
$16.95, trade paperback, 352 pages, 5 1/8″ x 8″
ISBN-13: 978-193236154-4