herald sun travel writer

JOHNSTON 

Travel writer of, the year. twice., astw awards, travel writer, travel writing   and sample articles.

I'm a versatile writer contributing a wide-ranging variety of travel articles to newspapers, magazines and websites (see below). These may be straightforward destination pieces , food and r estaurant reviews , light-hearted and informative  round-ups or more evocative  personal narratives .  Regularly weekly or monthly  columns  for both newspapers and magazines demonstrate my ability to produce reliable, ongoing copy.

I'm an expert on river, expedition and luxury  cruising . (For more, click here. )  Literature, museums, architecture and history are often recurring themes in my culture-based stories . I'll give any activity a go, but I'm particularly happy when writing about hiking and skiing . I first strapped on a pair of skis in the Swiss Alps at the age of two, and haven't stopped (or even broken a bone) since.

Most familiar destinations?  ​ As a 25-year resident of Sydney, I know Australia well, and make frequent domestic trips . I spent another 20 years living in Switzerland , speak fluent French, and return to Switzerland and other European destinations  at least twice a year.​ And lastly, I also lived in Chengdu in Chin a for three years and return to China regularly.​  I'm a committed sinophile, wish I spoke better Mandarin, but  draw the line at eating chicken's feet .

Incidentally, I don't just confine myself to travel writing. I also write other feature articles on a wide variety of topics, including  health and wellbeing , history , culture  and food .

Click through below for samples of some of my articles in various styles.

Cover Stories

Poland: This is Europe's next boom destination. Click here .

Destination pieces

An astounding wildlife encounter in French Polynesia. Click here .

Culture articles

The Swiss museum for people who think art is boring. Click here .

Personal narratives

The only place in the world where every day is a holiday. Click here .

Food stories

The best food destination you've never heard of. Click here .

Restaurant reviews

Dining at Banyan Tree Phuket's Saffron Restaurant. Click here .

Hotel reviews

Yoshida-Sanso: This is Kyoto's best ryokan for a reason. Click here .

Skiing articles

Skiing and dining make Lech a standout resort. Click here .

World's 10 most spectacular sunset locations. Click here .

Travel advice

Travel tips and advice for group tours in a newspaper cover story. Click here .

PORTFOLIO OF PUBLICATIONS

Below is a select list of the publications to which I've contributed in the past, or contribute to currently.

TRAVELLER ​

Currently my most frequent outlet is the shared  Traveller section of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age (on Saturdays) and The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age (on Sundays). Articles are further syndicated in numerous regional Australian and New Zealand newspapers and published online at traveller.com.au, Australia’s most-visited travel website.  Click here for a list of my articles in Traveller .

I have also contributed frequently to Escape travel section shared by four newspapers, and the most widely-circulated print travel title in Australia . Click here for a list of my articles in Escape .

OTHER NEWSPAPERS The Guardian (UK) The Australian (Australia)

Australian Financial Review (Australia) Christchurch Press (New Zealand)

Courier-Mail (Australia) Daily Telegraph (Australia) Herald Sun (Australia) Southland Times (New Zealand)

Sunday Herald Sun (Australia) Sunday Mail (Australia) Sunday Telegraph (Australia) Sunday Times (Australia)

MAGAZINES CEO Magazine (Australia)

DestinAsian (Singapore) Dubai Voyager (UAE) Frequent Traveller (Singapore) Get Lost! (Australia) Holidays with Kids (Australia) International Traveller (Australia)

National  Geographic Traveller (Australia)

Travel Bulletin (Australia)

Travel Ideas (South Africa) Travel Talk (Australia) Vacations & Travel (Australia)

​INFLIGHT MAGAZINES Cedar Wings (Lebanon)

Colours Magazine (Indonesia) Jetstar Magazine (Australia) Mabuhay (Philippines) Morning Calm (Korea) Open Skies (UAE) Oryx (Qatar)

Portfolio (UAE) The Australian Way (Australia) Silhouette (Seychelles) Silver Kris (Singapore) Virgin Voyeur (Australia)

TRAVEL WEBSITES

Cruises.com.au (Australia)

Destination NSW (Australia)

Expedia (UK and USA) Flightcentre (Australia) News.com.au (Australia) Nine MSN (Australia) Stuff.co.nz (New Zealand)

Traveller.com.au (Australia)

Travel Intelligence (UK)

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In a Rare Interview, a Former Royal Aide Opens Up About Life at the Palace

Samantha Cohen worked closely with royals including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle, for almost 20 years.

For starters, Cohen spoke highly of the late Queen Elizabeth as an employer, and even even revealed that she had her own room at the royal residence. “I was away working a lot with a young family but the Queen made it easy, if there was an evening function I’d stay over and sleep in my own bedroom at Windsor so I didn’t have to drive back to London at night," she said told the publication. "When we were on duty at Balmoral we could bring our families, my children had summer holidays there and, when I was on duty every two years at Sandringham, they came there for Christmas, it was a beautiful time." She added, "The Queen and I used to talk a lot. I miss her, she was a special woman."

And while one might assume that the queen only expected the highest levels of precision, Cohen reveals that Elizabeth actually "loved it" when things went awry, explaining the late monarch's delight in the unexpected, "if a cake was not cutting, or a plaque didn’t unveil, because everything was so perfectly organized it spiced her life up when things went wrong.”

It echoes a sentiment both Prince William and Prince Harry shared in a documentary about their grandfather, Prince Philip, in 2021. "Both my grandparents love [when things go wrong]," William said, "because you can imagine they live a life where everything has to go right the whole time, so when things go wrong, they both chuckle an awful lot. Everyone else gets mortally embarrassed, but they love it."

Cohen was so close with the late queen, that she was often photographed traveling with the royal. She later worked on a team for Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, before they stepped back from their roles as working royals, and even accompanied them on their 2019 royal tour of South Africa.

Of course, it wasn't all laughs managing the royal goings-on. In fact, Cohen was once dubbed "Samantha the Panther" by the media for rejecting a celebrity would-be-guest. “The name came about when I was in a junior position at Buckingham Palace and overseeing an event with high profile celebrities when an agent called asking if someone was on the guest list and I said ‘sorry they’re not’," she explained, "They kept phoning back and I said ‘I’m sorry we can’t invite everyone’. The next day I was in the press. I hadn’t shouted. If anything I was new and trying hard to be nice.”

Lauren Hubbard is a freelance writer and Town & Country contributor who covers beauty, shopping, entertainment, travel, home decor, wine, and cocktails.

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Ashley Ellington Brown

Ashley is editor/writer for HoneymoonAlways.

• She grew up in New Orleans and loves to celebrate special occasions (or random Wednesdays) with fabulous food and wine at a beautiful restaurant. On trips, she’s always seeking the perfect mix of ambiance and deliciousness.
• The beach is her happy place and she has about a million photos of the sun setting over the water (as well as a handful of sunrises).
• She believes that travel is a direct path to joy and finds it really fun to wander around a new location, discovering hidden gems. She feels that when we travel, we open ourselves up to new perspectives and interactions that enlarge and enrich our lives.
• When she’s not traveling, she reads about travel.

Ashley has worked as a freelance writer for more than 20 years, specializing in the areas of travel, marketing, personal development, and the pursuit of happiness. Her writing has appeared in The New Zealand Herald , Yoga Journal , Thrive Global , The Daily Positive , The Red Tricycle , and The Eden Magazine .

She also wrote the multiple-award-winning guide A Beautiful Morning: How a Morning Ritual Can Feed Your Soul and Transform Your Life .

Ashley has always loved to explore new places and indulges her passion for travel whenever she can. She has been to 12 countries and 32 states so far.

Favorite destinations include Sorrento and Capri, Italy; Haarlem, Netherlands; Paris; Sydney and K’gari, Australia; Rotorua and Waiheke Island, New Zealand; the American West; Palm Beach; the Florida Keys; and her hometown of New Orleans. Ashley has a goal of visiting every state plus many more international destinations.

On her bucket list: the Orient Express; Venice; Spain; Portugal; Vienna at Christmas; eastern Europe; the Ice Hotel in Quebec; Bermuda; island hopping in the Caribbean; and seeing the Northern Lights.

Ashley is a member of the International Travel Writers Alliance.

Ashley graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in international affairs.

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We’re Reimagining Our Travel Journalism. Tell Us What You’d Like to See.

Our new Travel editor, Amy Virshup, says she will be rebooting our travel journalism for the digital age. Send her your suggestions or ask a question here.

By Amy Virshup

I am thrilled to be The Times’s new Travel editor, taking over a department that has offered great writing and photography to Times readers for decades. As I look to reboot our travel journalism for the digital age, there are a few big themes I am thinking about, all aimed at helping our readers travel the world better, more knowledgeably and with more understanding.

[[Leave your feedback and questions for Amy on her plans for our travel coverage in the comments.]]

One is how we tell stories. The classic storytelling mode in travel writing (not just at The Times, but pretty much everywhere) is the first-person travelogue, in which someone parachutes into a location and brings back the tale of the journey. That has resulted in some wonderful writing and terrific insights into far-flung places. But it made more sense when travel was harder, when most people were never going to take that trip to Patagonia or the Australian outback, so the writer really was the reader’s window into a different world.

Now, people can much more easily visit places themselves, and they don’t necessarily want our take on a place; they want the tools to discover it for themselves and find their own take on it.

There will always be room for well-written pieces of discovery — I recommend our recent story about walking the periphery of Paris , for instance — but in general I want to take the word “I” out of our coverage.

People also increasingly want an “authentic” take on a place. When they travel, they want to feel as if they are slipping into the lives of the locals, not standing outside that life looking in. That, as much as saving money, is one prime reason behind the incredible growth in the sharing economy of Airbnb, VRBO and the like.

Those places, unlike hotels, give you the opportunity to really live in a neighborhood and partake of its charms — shopping at the grocery store, finding “your” bakery where you can pick up croissants each morning, or going for a run in the local park.

To tap into that hunger, I am looking at using more writers who actually live in the places readers want to visit.

We hear from locals all the time when we write stories about where they live, and often they want to tell us what we missed. That’s partly a result of the expansion of The Times’s readership around the world and also thanks to the strength of social media.

Years ago, if we wrote about Los Angeles, for instance, few people there would read it. Even if they did, if they found what we wrote lacking, the only way we would know is if they wrote a letter to the editor. These days, they take to Twitter and we hear them loud and clear.

As Travel editor, I want to harness that energy to amplify our coverage. One writer and one story can’t tell everything about a place, but if we can add readers’ voices and knowledge to what we do, we can get a fuller picture. And that’s what we all want.

Let’s get started. What suggestions do you have for our Travel desk? What kinds of travel tips would be useful to you? What do you think we’ve been missing? Please leave your suggestions and any questions you might have for me in the comments section.

Portrait by Earl Wilson/The New York Times

A note to readers who are not subscribers: This article from the Reader Center does not count toward your monthly free article limit.

Follow the @ReaderCenter on Twitter for more coverage highlighting your perspectives and experiences and for insight into how we work.

Tom Sweeney Travel Writer

Award-winning destination articles

Hi, I’m Tom Sweeney, a Glasgow-born and Dublin-based professional journalist and award-winning travel writer.

I’m the print and online chief sub-editor at Mediahuis Ireland (formerly Independent News & Media), which publishes the Irish Independent, Independent.ie, The Sunday Independent and The Herald.

Queries concerning The Herald travel pages, which I edit, can be addressed to [email protected]

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New editorial leadership changes at News Corp for The Courier-Mail and the Herald Sun

Two of News Corp Australia’s most read metropolitan newspapers are undergoing editorial leadership changes in 2020.

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Two of News Corp Australia’s most read metropolitan newspapers are undergoing editorial leadership changes in 2020.

The Courier-Mail’s editor Sam Weir, has been appointed editor of the Herald Sun in Melbourne and the Herald Sun’s editor, Damon Johnston, has been appointed Victorian editor of The Australian.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller and Peter Blunden, Victorian managing director – Editorial and chairman of the Editorial Board, made the announcement today.

Mr Miller congratulated Mr Weir and Mr Johnston on their new appointments, acknowledging they were in recognition of their talented editorships over many years with News Corp Australia.

Mr Weir has been the editor at the Brisbane-based title since 2017.

“Sam is one of Australia’s most experienced editors,” he said.

“He has spent his career at News Corp Australia, beginning as a cadet journalist in Adelaide, and previously edited The Sunday Times in Perth and The Advertiser in Adelaide.

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“We are delighted he has agreed to take on the editorship of the Herald Sun, Australia’s largest-selling daily newspaper and we wish him every success.”

Before editing Melbourne’s Herald Sun, Mr Johnston was editor of the Sunday Herald Sun for four years.

He has edited the daily newspaper for the past seven years.

“Under Damon’s leadership the Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun broke some of Australia’s most important stories,” Mr Miller said.

“We know Damon will bring that same talent and investigative skills to his new role in driving Victorian coverage for The Australian.”

Mr Weir and Mr Johnston will take up their roles early next year.

The new editor of The Courier-Mail – one of Australia’s most important news brands – is also expected to be announced in the New Year.

Incoming Seven CEO Jeff Howard has declared he’s a family man who doesn’t smoke, do drugs or drink coffee in a leaked all-in staff memo.

The boss of the Seven Network, which has been under fire following several scandals, will leave the company immediately.

Things continue to go from bad to worse for embattled Channel Seven, with the latest scandal surrounding the network putting it under further strain.

Things To Do | The News-Herald’s Janet Podolak wins quartet of…

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Things to do | the news-herald’s janet podolak wins quartet of travel-writing awards, society of american travel writers honors mentor resident for 2021 stories.

Longtime News-Herald writer Janet Podolak again has been honored by the Society of American Travel Writers for her work appearing in print and online in 2021. The winning stories ran in both The News-Herald and The Morning Journal.

She was awarded both second and third place in the category Best Newspaper Travel Article on an International Destination. Her Dec. 8 story about Dubrovnik and how the Croatian city is drawing many visitors coming to see its “Game of Thrones” sites got the second-place prize, while an Oct. 13 story about the Greek island of Santorini won third place.

Find those strories at bit.ly/nh-croatia and bit.ly/nh-santorini .

A second place in Best Travel Series Appearing in a Newspaper, Magazine or Travel Web Site went to Podolak for five stories developed from a cruise of the Greek islands she took in July 2021 with Celebrity Cruises. Both the Dubrovnik and Santorini stories were part of that series, along with pieces about the Celebrity ship Apex; the Parthenon in Athens; and Akrotiri, an ancient city uncovered from a volcano on Santorini 3,500 years ago.

See those stories at bit.ly/apexcruise , bit.ly/nh-parthenon and bit.ly/akrotiri-feature-21 .

See that story at bit.ly/nh-stvincent .

The Central States Chapter competition for the Society of American Travel Writers drew entries from writers published all over the world but living in the U.S. states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

Podolak, who lives in Mentor, writes for The News-Herald and The Morning Journal. She’s contributed to The News-Herald since 1971 and has been an SATW member since 1990.

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14 Best Travel Authors of All Time

Here are some of the best travel authors that you will want to read to gain inspiration about the art of traveling.

There are times when we simply want to escape the mundanity of everyday life and explore an exotic location like Arabia or Mexico. Yet when travel is not possible, a book can take us where we want to go. Exploring the world through the writing of travel authors can give us a sense of wonder, even when we have to stay at home.

If you are hoping to learn more about the world, put down the guidebook and pick up a more engaging work by one of these top travel authors . You will read a great story while also gaining some travel experience. These 14 authors are ones you will want to grab from Amazon to read today.

1. Bill Bryson

2. paul theroux, 3. bruce chatwin, 4. eric newby, 5. ernest hemingway, 6. graham greene, 7. jack kerouac, 8. freya stark, 9. jan morris, 10. john steinbeck, 11. peter mayle, 12. anthony bourdain, 13. elizabeth gilbert, 14. pico iyer, best travel authors ranked.

Bill Bryson  is an American and British author whose book Notes from a Small Island, showcasing travel in Britain, brought him to prominence among travel writers. His travel books include works about travel in America, England, Australia, Africa, and other countries in Europe.

Bryson started his adult life as a student at Drake University, but he dropped out to backpack in Europe after two years. Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe chronicled these adventures. This trip caused him to move to Europe permanently, settling in Britain in 1977.

Early in life, Bryson worked as a journalist and copy editor. In 2014, he took the citizenship test to earn dual citizenship in the UK and America. Bryson’s extensive work earned him several honorary doctorates from schools in America and the UK.

• Bryson, Bill (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 324 Pages - 05/15/2001 (Publication Date) - William Morrow Paperbacks (Publisher)

Paul Theroux was born in Massachusetts in 1941, and he earned his acclaim as a novelist and travel writer. The Great Railway Bazaar is one of his most famous works in the travel genre. 

Throughout his career, Theroux experienced some controversy. For example, Singapore banned his novel, Saint Jack, for over 30 years because of its content.

Throughout his life, Theroux lived in several countries, including Uganda, Singapore, and England, in London specifically. He returned to the United States in the 1990s and continues to write today. Looking for more books to binge on a weekend? Check out the best books for beach reading . Or you can also search for our best book guides using our search bar.

• Theroux, Paul (Author)
• 352 Pages - 06/01/2006 (Publication Date) - Mariner Books (Publisher)

Bruce Chatwin considered himself a storyteller, not a travel writer, but his first book, In Patagonia, solidified him in the genre. He got to travel much of the world working as a reporter for The Sunday Times Magazine, interviewing political figures. This helped him gather more tales for his travel books.

Chatwin was born in England and went to Marlborough College. He worked for a time at Sotheby’s, where he gained knowledge of and appreciation for art. 

Throughout Chatwin’s body of work, the theme of human restlessness is clear. He believed humans had a genetic predisposition to wanderlust, and his works helped fuel that. You might also be interested in these essays about traveling and essays about journeys .

• Bruce Chatwin (Author)
• 240 Pages - 03/01/2003 (Publication Date) - Penguin Classics (Publisher)

Eric Newby was an English travel writer known for A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, The Last Grain Race, and A Small Place in Italy. He was born in London in 1919 and died in 2006 at 86. His famous travel work The Last Grain Race chronicled his experience on a Finnish ship that took part in a voyage from Australia to Europe past Cape Horn. 

Newby was a prolific writer, with 25 books to his name. His travel writing included some of his stories from being captured as a prisoner of war in the Adriatic during World War II, which he wrote about in Love and War in the Apennines. 

Newby continued writing until 2003, three years before his death. Many of his works included his own photography.

• Newby, Eric (Author)
• 288 Pages - 04/06/2024 (Publication Date) - HarperPress (Publisher)

Ernest Hemingway was a  Nobel Prize-winning author  who wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, which spoke of the Civil War in Spain. His travel books include Green Hills of Africa, which talks about his time on safari.

Hemingway grew up in Illinois and joined the military during World War I. He got his first taste of international travel on the Italian front of the war. He also served during WWII, working as a journalist and foreign correspondent. 

He fell in love with Paris and chose to live there as an ex-pat for some time. His time there was the story behind The Sun Also Rises, another of his famous works. In addition to traveling and writing, Hemingway was a keen sportsman.

• Hemingway, Ernest (Author)
• 480 Pages - 07/01/1995 (Publication Date) - Scribner (Publisher)

Graham Greene was a British writer who lived from 1925 to 1991. He often brought conflicting moral and political issues into his writing, and he earned the Shakespeare Prize and the Jerusalem Prize for his works. 

Greene traveled extensively to find subject matter for his books, which led him to get recruited for MI6, the British espionage agency. As a result, many of his works, including The Comedians and his memoir My Silent War, include settings pulled from his travels. 

Greene often wrote about remote places, which earned him a spot as one of the best travel writers, but he was more prominently known as a thriller and political writer. 

• Greene, Graham (Author)
• 320 Pages - 01/25/2005 (Publication Date) - Penguin Classics (Publisher)

Jack Kerouac was an American poet and novelist known for Big Sur and The Dharma Burns. His prose is known for its spontaneity, and he covers a wide range of themes in his writing. Though he grew up in Massachusetts, his home was French-speaking, so he often spoke with a French accent. 

Like many travel writers, Kerouac got his taste for international travel during World War II, where he served as a Marine. He published a total of 14 novels during his lifetime and also several volumes of poetry. 

On the Road is one of his most famous travel works. It chronicles a road trip Kerouac once took with Neal Cassady. A heavy drinker, Kerouac died from an abdominal hemorrhage at the age of 47. 

• Jack Kerouac (Author)
• 293 Pages - 06/01/1999 (Publication Date) - Penguin Classics (Publisher)

Freya Stark was an explorer and travel writer who lived in the early 1900s. She had dual British and Italian citizenship and lived in many parts of Europe, including Italy and France. The book One Thousand and One Nights, which she received for her ninth birthday, inspired a love for Asia and the Orient, which later fueled her passion for exploration. 

Stark took many excursions into the Middle East, including dangerous countries like Lebanon, Baghdad, and Iraq, and these became part of her writings. The Valleys of the Assassins, which she published in 1934, is one of her famous works, and it describes some of her early travels. 

Throughout her life, Stark continued to travel extensively. She helped the British in both World War I and World War II. Her adventure travel writings earned her the Founder’s Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.

• Stark, Freya (Author)
• 320 Pages - 07/24/2001 (Publication Date) - Modern Library (Publisher)

 Yet another English travel writer, Jan Morris, lived in Great Britain and Wales. She was born James Morris, and while living as a male, she was part of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition – the first time the mountain was traversed. 

Last Letters from Hav was one of Morris’s most engaging travel novels. She described it as an imagined travelogue and political thriller. She also published several books on travel to Trieste and Venice. 

Morris died in 2020 at the age of 94. She was famous for being one of the first high-profile individuals to make a gender transition. She traveled to Morocco for the necessary surgery when British doctors refused to perform it. 

• Morris, Jan (Author)
• 203 Pages - 02/18/1989 (Publication Date) - Vintage Books / Random House (Publisher)

American author John Steinbeck is most famous for his novels The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1940. The Grapes of Wrath sold 14 million copies in just the first 75 years of publication. 

Not all of Steinbeck’s works are travel works, but in 1943 he became a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. A role that took him overseas. This gave him new settings for his stories beyond California, and some of his works became known as travel books. For example, his A Russian Journal included photographs and first-hand accounts of his visit to the Soviet Union in 1947. 

In 1960 Steinbeck embarked on a road trip with his dog, Charley, which created the scenes for Travels with Charley: In Search of America. This piece of travel literature is a travel memoir that perfectly captures what it means to be American, even the different flavors of America seen across the country. 

• Steinbeck, John (Author)
• 277 Pages - 01/31/1980 (Publication Date) - Penguin Books (Publisher)

Peter Mayle  is the author of the New York Times bestseller A Year in Provence. He has 14 books to his name, including both non-fiction works and travel novels. A Year in Provence was his first book, and it has six million copies in forty languages to date. 

Mayle was born in 1939 in England, and he started his literary career writing educational books, not travel stories. However, he eventually moved to southern France as an expatriate, which served as fodder for his most famous works. In 1989 the British Book Awards called A Year in Provence the Best Travel Book of the Year.

Mayle died in 2018 at the age of 78. He was still living in Provence at the time. In addition to his work as an author, he also worked as an advertising copywriter. 

• Great product!
• Bourdain, Anthony (Author)
• 312 Pages - 01/09/2007 (Publication Date) - Ecco (Publisher)

Anthony Bourdain is a chef who also traveled the world. He writes on both cooking and travel, and A Cook’s Tour is one book that combines both into one interesting tour of the dining and culture of the world. 

Bourdain’s books are known for their whit, and his book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly hit the New York Times bestseller list in 2000. Many of his works tied in with his television series. 

In addition to writing, Bourdain hosted several travel shows for television. His work for these shows fueled some of his great travel and cooking books. Are you searching for books to give to someone? Check out our round-up of the best books to give ! Or you can also search for our best book guides using our search bar.

In Eat, Pray, Love,  Elizabeth Gilbert  takes the reader to Italy, Indonesia and India. The book’s theme is finding self-love and inner devotion, but it fits the travel genre because of its exploration of these locations. 

Gilbert was born in Connecticut in 1969 and grew up on a Christmas tree farm. She started writing short stories while in college, and she traveled throughout America during her young adult years, which provided some ideas for her books.

The popularity of Eat, Pray, Love, and the movie based on the book earned her a spot on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

• Gilbert, Elizabeth (Author)
• 400 Pages - 01/30/2007 (Publication Date) - Riverhead Books (Publisher)

Pico Iyer was a close friend of the Buddhist leader Dali Lama, which comes into play in his book The Open Road. In this book, he encourages readers to look into the themes of Buddhism as they relate to life. 

Iyer traveled to Cuba, Ethiopia, and Kathmandu throughout his life, and those places influenced his writing. Though he was born to Indian parents and raised in California, he currently resides in Western Japan. His Falling Off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the World showcases his travel writing style as he explores places not often found in travel guidebooks.

Because of the Buddhist influence in his life, Iyer’s works are very introspective. Often causing the reader to think about human nature just as much as they inspire thought about travel. If you liked this post, you might also be interested in these authors like Bill Bryson .

• Iyer, Pico (Author)
• 288 Pages - 03/10/2009 (Publication Date) - Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Publisher)

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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• A Literary Tour Of Moscow

A Literary Tour of Moscow

It’s hard to count the exact number of great Russian writers who showed their love for Moscow. The city has attracted and prompted stories for a long time now, inspiring many to express their writing talent. Thus, Moscow’s literary sights are fully deserving of our attention, and this guide gladly presents you six of them, from museums to apartments.

1. nikolay gogol museum.

Library, Museum

2. The State Museum of Mayakovsky

3. Turgenev's Family House

5. The Apartment of Dostoevsky

Building, Memorial, Museum

6. The Mikhail Bulgakov Museum

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.

Restaurants

The best halal restaurants in kaliningrad.

Guides & Tips

A 48 hour guide to astrakhan, russia.

A Soviet Pilot Went Missing in Afghanistan and Was Found 30 Years Later

Russian Last Names and Their Meanings

Zhenotdel: The Soviet Union's Feminist Movement

Food & Drink

The best halal restaurants in kazan.

The Mystery Behind Russia's Buddhist "Miracle"

A Guide to Cautionary Russian Proverbs and What They Mean

The Soviet Union’s Best Heart-Throbs and Pinups

Unusual Facts About the Soviet Union

See & Do

Russia's most remote holiday destinations.

Incredible Photos From the Longest Bike Race in the World

Culture trip spring sale, save up to $1,100 on our unique small-group trips limited spots..

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• Read Today's Paper

WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich prison term extended as he approaches a year behind bars

US journalist Evan Gershkovich has put on a defiant appearance in a Russian court where his pre-trial detention was extended, as Aussie leaders lend their support.

Don't miss out on the headlines from Leaders. Followed categories will be added to My News.

A Moscow court has extended US journalist Evan Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention until June 30, ensuring he will have spent more than one year behind bars.

Prosecutors accuse the Wall Street Journal reporter of espionage – the first such charge against a Western journalist in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The 32-year-old is being held in Moscow’s notoriously isolated Lefortovo prison and faces a maximum 20 years in jail if found guilty.

The Moscow courts service said it had “extended the term of detention of Evan Gershkovich until June 30, 2024”, following a hearing in the Russian capital.

Gershkovich, his employers and the White House all vehemently reject the accusation, which they say was fabricated.

Friday marks one year since Gershkovich’s surprise arrest by FSB counterintelligence agents in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

“This verdict to further prolong Evan’s detention feels particularly painful, as this week marks one year since Evan was arrested and wrongfully detained,” US ambassador Lynne Tracy said following the verdict.

“The accusations against Evan are categorically untrue. They are not a different interpretation of circumstances. They are fiction,” she added outside the court.

President Vladimir Putin said in February he would like to see Gershkovich released as part of a prisoner exchange.

In remarks to conservative American TV commentator Tucker Carlson, he said talks between Russia and the United States about a possible swap were ongoing.

The Russian leader made clear he wanted any deal to involve the release of a Russian jailed in Germany for killing a Chechen dissident.

AUSSIE LEADERS REACH OUT TO EVAN

It comes as calls for Mr Gershkovich’s release cross political and cultural divides, as Australians from all walks of life raise their voice over the injustice of his detention in Russia.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Whitlams frontman Tim Freedman have all reached out to the reporter as part of our Dear Evan campaign.

Ms Wong and Mr Abbott are not known for being a unity ticket on many issues, but they have both urged Mr Gershkovich to stay strong.

In her letter, Ms Wong said Mr Gershkovich’s detention was “baseless” and Australians commended his “bravery and resolve”.

“Your reporting, and that of the Wall Street Journal, has helped the world understand contemporary Russia, including the domestic and global implications of its illegal and immoral war in Ukraine,” she wrote.

“I wish you and your family courage and hope during this very challenging time.”

Mr Abbott struck a defiant note in his letter, saying Russia had become a “rogue state” under Vladimir Putin, and the charges against Mr Gershkovich were “simply laughable”.

Mr Gershkovich “should instantly be released because there was never any reason – other than the Putin tyranny’s desire to humiliate America – for his initial detention,” Mr Abbott said.

In his letter to Mr Gershkovich, Tim Freedman introduced himself as “a musician in Australia who has written a few protest songs over the years, but never have I had to suffer to do what I thought was right”.

He urged the detained writer to immerse himself in Russian literature while he was incarcerated, though suggested Dostoyevsky (who wrote the classic Crime and Punishment) “may seem a bit close to the bone at the moment”.

The Whitlams singer/songwriter said he hoped Mr Gershkovich was be free to “rejoin this world soon … where you can roam where you like and continue your descriptions of the truth.”

They join a growing group of prominent Australian leaders from the worlds of journalism, politics, business and the community showing support for the Wall Street Journal reporter, who many believe is being detained as a human bargaining chip in Vladimir Putin’s dealings with the west.

They letters of support to Mr Gershkovich will be sent to him at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison after they are translated into Russian, a condition for all messages sent to inmates at the Stalin-era facility.

Readers are encouraged to pen their own letter in support of Mr Gershkovich, who is being kept in isolation and only gets one hour of outdoor time per day.

Mr Gershkovich’s plight is drawing support from across the political spectrum, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton both adding their voice to the campaign.

“Journalists speak truth to power and should never be in prison for doing their job,” Mr Albanese wrote in his letter.

“Journalism sits at the core of liberal values – freedom of expression and the public’s right to know. The world is a dangerous place and the work you do has never been more important.”

Mr Dutton compared Mr Gershkovich’s detention to the incarceration of the famous Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who defied authorities to write about political repression in the then Soviet Union.

“The freedom to think is the victory of truth over lies and control,” Mr Dutton wrote. “With thought and truth, one’s spirit can endure the most testing of circumstances.”

In her letter, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she was “angered by this injustice”.

“Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that the world has access to independent reporting of what is happening in Russia. As the war in Ukraine continues, and the world reacts to the murder of Alexei Navalny, it is vital that the free press can do its job and expose the truth.”

Midnight Oil lead singer and former MP Peter Garrett told Mr Gershkovich that despite Australia’s distance from Russia, there was strong awareness of his situation.

“May you take some comfort from the fact that there is a strong campaign to secure your release and our deep hope is that this happens as soon as possible,” Mr Garrett wrote.

Similar comments came from the former Foreign Minister, NSW Premier and journalist Bob Carr, who urged Mr Gershkovich to “never surrender the hope that a sense of justice or at the very least some simple common sense is going to allow your return to family, country and profession”.

Some of Australia’s most respected journalists have also written to Mr Gershkovich, encouraging him to stay strong.

“Your detention is a stark reminder of the fragility of press freedoms and I hope all governments recognise that a free presses not a threat but a safeguard,” wrote Ten newsreader Sandra Sully.

The Project co-host Hamish Macdonald – for many years a foreign correspondent himself – said he saluted Mr Gershkovich’s “courageous reporting and bravery”.

“Freedom of the press can never be taken for granted and your predicament reminds us of this,” he wrote.

News Corp Australia’s support of the Free Evan campaign honours the fact that this masthead is a global stablemate of the Wall Street Journal.

“As champions for freedom of speech, journalists take risks every day to advocate for unrestricted dialogue, which is crucial to a functioning democracy,” Executive Chairman of News Corp Australasia Michael Miller said.

“We will not rest until Evan Gershkovich is reunited with his family and back in a newsroom, gathering facts and telling stories as a journalist.”

Erin Madeley, the Chief Executive of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, which represents journalists, said “false charges of espionage are laid to prevent truthful and accurate reporting of regimes that are seeking to avoid scrutiny”.

More Coverage

The growing outrage over Mr Gershkovich’s detention has also moved many prominent business leaders.

Mining and renewable energy magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest AO applauded Mr Gershkovich’s work, saying it was the “antidote to the misinformation that despots like Putin continue to propagate to justify their atrocities”.

Fellow AO Gina Rinehart called on the Biden administration in the US to redouble its efforts to “bring Evan home”, while Visy chairman Anthony Pratt reminded Mr Gershkovich that “You work for a great news organisation that will never give up on bringing you home.”

Originally published as WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich prison term extended as he approaches a year behind bars

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