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Words on the Waves at Litquake 2011

Jim Benning — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 02:44:44 +0000

I’m looking forward to my first Litquake in San Francisco. The 12th annual literary festival takes place Oct. 7-15 and features writers like James Ellroy and Thomas McGuane. It culminates in a big Lit Crawl around the Mission District.

I’ll be reading Oct. 15 at Words on the Waves, an afternoon of events on Sausalito houseboats. I’ll be joining Peter Delevett and Daniel Duane. The theme: “Out to Sea: Writers on Travel.” It should be great fun. Who’s ever been to a reading on a houseboat? Space is limited, and so are tickets.

Talking Travel Writing This Summer

Jim Benning — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:22:21 +0000

My summer kicked off with a great weekend at the TBEX travel blogging conference in Vancouver. In addition to hanging out with a fun group of writers and sampling a surprisingly tasty seaweed-topped hot dog (thanks, Japadog), I taught narrative travel writing with San Francisco Chronicle Travel Editor Spud Hilton and New York Times contributor David Farley. (That’s Farley on the left and me on the right.) Next year’s conference will be held in Keystone, Colorado.

I’m looking forward to a couple of other travel writing events this summer. I’ll be a guest speaker at a one-day travel writing seminar led by Orange County Register Travel Editor Gary Warner at UCLA Extension July 23.

And Aug. 11-14, I’ll be back on the faculty at the excellent Travel & Food Writing & Photography Conference at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ll be co-teaching an online travel writing and blogging track with Pam Mandel. The conference is evolving in the digital age, but at its heart is a celebration of storytelling. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more knowledgeable, passionate and nurturing group of teachers. They include conference co-chair Don George; Outside magazine founding editor Tim Cahill; “An Irreverent Curiosity” author David Farley; San Francisco Chronicle Travel Editor Spud Hilton; Afar magazine Executive Editor Julia Cosgrove; Los Angeles Times Travel Editor Catherine Hamm; Travelers’ Tales co-founder Larry Habegge; and many others.

Photo: Andrew Evans

Reading at Book Passage

Jim Benning — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 18:35:06 +0000

A Moveable Feast in Tijuana

Jim Benning — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 16:16:51 +0000

One of the pleasures of living in San Diego is being a short drive from the Mexican border, and while I found myself visiting Tijuana less frequently as the drug war escalated in recent years, I never gave it up entirely. In fact, I crossed over not too long ago to have lunch at Carnitas Uruapan, my favorite carnitas and mariachi restaurant. It was a good lunch, as always. I snapped this photo of mariachis that day.

I’m delighted that the story I wrote about that lunch, “Tijuana Terroir,” is featured in the new Lonely Planet collection, A Moveable Feast: Life Changing Food Adventures Around the World. I didn’t visit Carnitas Uruapan because the carnitas are any better than those I could find in San Diego, I realized in writing the piece, but because there’s something about eating food and listening to music in the country that inspired them that you just can’t replicate elsewhere.

Edited by Don George, the book features stories from Anthony Bourdain, Simon Winchester, Rolf Potts, Elizabeth Eaves, Doug Mack and others. At Book Passage in Corte Madera Nov. 14, I’ll be joining friends and writers Don George, Larry Habegger and Amanda Jones to celebrate the book’s launch and read. Details here.

World Hum in ‘The Best American Travel Writing’ 2010 Edition

Jim Benning — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:49:31 +0000

Nice to see four World Hum stories included as notable selections in the new Best American Travel Writing anthology, just published. This year’s book was guest edited by Bill Buford, founder of Granta and author of the excellent memoir, “Heat.” The World Hum pieces honored in the book are: On the Perils of Travel Writing, by David Farley (a story whose origin dates back to a conversation I had with Farley in a New York City bar in 2008); Where no Travel Writer has Gone Before, by Rolf Potts; and Cycling India’s Wildest Highway and Face-off on the Congo, both by Jeffrey Tayler.

When Worlds Collide

Jim Benning — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:04:53 +0000

I’m a big fan of travel writer Paul Theroux, whose books often chronicle train trips while exploring culture, politics, human nature, you name it, in a shrewd, unflinching way. And lately, I’ve been been reading another kind of train travel book, “The Little Engine That Could, ” to my daughter, who just turned 4. We both love the book. And so it was that one evening, after reading the book to my daughter and putting her to bed, I began to wonder what Theroux would have written were he aboard the train in the children’s book. And then my imagination went a little nuts. Which is how this happened. Bay area illustrator Bill Russell supplied the art we published with it, which I love.

USA Network on World Hum

Jim Benning — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:08:43 +0000

Kind words from USA Network, which just gave World Hum its “Character Approved” stamp, reserved for “innovators in their field who are influencing our opinions, our style, and our view of the world.”

From the website:

Reading Worldhum is a different experience than reading a traditional travel magazine with lists of the best museums in Paris or places to shop in Rome. Worldhum’s Character Approved approach to travel writing makes me feel like I’m standing on the street with the writer. I can see the colors, and I can smell the air. As I read Tom Swick’s story, “Mr. Suitcase,” I even shared the emotional experience of lost luggage–and I loved every minute of it.

Thanks, USA Network.

Photo: ppz via Flickr (Creative Commons)

The Pinnacle of my Career

Jim Benning — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:12:26 +0000

I’ve arrived. I made this list.

Now excuse me while I get back, soulfully, to my poetry.