I’m more than a little surprised to find myself in this box: my idea of NEWS is something that happened in 1848, and I think there are better things to advertise and take notice of than my tiny doings or scribbles.
But now that DDB Singapore has brought me into the 20th century – with every sign of coaxing me into the 21st – I’m happy to welcome anyone who’s interested to this space, where we may now and then post something that’s not easily found elsewhere, a video clip from our recent journeys or something that might be of interest to anyone who’s traveled as far as this unexpected corner.
Thank you for your time and attention, and if you’re irritated by something here, please blame the brilliant designers of these pages. Without them, I’d still be in some black hole!
VIEW BY CATEGORY
THE NEWS ARCHIVES
- September 2024
- April 2024
- October 2023
- April 2023
- November 2022
- March 2022
- October 2021
- February 2021
- July 2020
- October 2019
- July 2019
- April 2019
- September 2018
- April 2018
- March 2017
- September 2016
- April 2016
- January 2015
- August 2015
- May 2015
- February 2015
- October 2014
- June 2014
- February 2014
- August 2013
- June 2013
- December 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- November 2011
“The Vedanta Temple: Our Second, Deeper Home”—a short essay for the Santa Barbara Independent, October 15, 2022
“A Man of Parts”–a review of A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carre, for Air Mail, December 3, 2022
A discussion of le Carre, on “Monday Meeting,” the Air Mail podcast, December 5, 2022
My annual little essay on the Discovery of the Year (the Dining Room in the Park Hyatt, Zanzibar) and Disappointment of the Year (the Seychelles)—for the Financial Times, December 11, 2022
“Heaven’s Door”–a short essay on Iran, excerpted in Harper’s, February 2023 issue and online as of December 19, 2022.
“Autumn Radiance”—an essay on a week in Hanover, New Hampshire for the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, January 2023.
“The Holy Mountain”—a short essay on Koyasan, in Japan, and the lessons of the pandemic, in Oprah Quarterly, January 2023
“Paradise Found”–an interview with Jim Kelly for Air Mail, January 7, 2023.
The Half Known Life—a book on paradise and the many parts of life we can never fathom—published by Riverhead Books in New York (and Bloomsbury U.K. and Penguin India), January 10, 2023.
A podcast with James Shaheen of Tricycle, online and excerpted in the February issue of the magazine. January 11, 2023
A rich conversation with brilliant Elyse Loehnen for the podcast “Pulling the Thread,” January 12, 2023.
“On the Lake”—an excerpt from The Half Known Life set in Kashmir, Lit Hub January 11, 2023
A very long conversation with the remarkable Jenna Abdou, for the “33 Voices” podcast, January 12, 2023.
“Stay Resolved”–an audio-essay included in the TED Radio Hour, January 13 2023
“The Trouble with Paradise”—an Opinion piece for The New York Times, January 14, 2023
A long essay on Iran for Toronto’s Globe & Mail, January 14, 2023
A long conversation with Jonathan Bastian for the KCRW program, “Life Examined,” January 22, 2023
“In Conversation with Caryl Phillips”—a long e-mail conversation with novelist Caryl Phillips on migration, exile, writing and home. Granta, January 23, 2023
A conversation with Katherine May for 5 X 15, January 24, 2022
A conversation with Isabel Pinner for San Francisco City Arts and Lectures, broadcast on NPR, February 5, 2023
A conversation with Lori McGarry for the Real Fiction Radio podcast, broadcast February 12, 2023.
“Varanasi, India’s holy `City of Death’ ”—an excerpt from The Half Known Life published in BBC Travel, February 16, 2023.
“Notes from an Author”—a short essay on Koyasan for National Geographic Traveller, February 16, 2023
A rich and literary conversation with the brilliant Cal Flyn, for the Royal Society of Literature, February 21, 2023.
A conversation on Japan with Dan Riley for the Keep Talking podcast, broadcast on March 18, 2023.
“Things are Never as Dark as they Seem”—a long interview with Pooja Pande in The Los Angeles Review of Books, March 19, 2023
“Staycations”—a short essay for The New York Times, April 4, 2023
If you’re interested in hearing Pico Iyer speak, here are a few dates and places to try:
| April 18 | A workshop on Paradise, TED Vancouver, Canada |
| April 22 | Two Panels, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Los Angeles, California |
| April 27 | Conversation with Isabella Rossellini, UCSB Santa Barbara, California |
| May 2 | Keynote, Seattle Arts and Lectures at Town Hall Seattle, Washington |
| May 17-21 | Jaipur Literature Festival Soneva Fushi Fushi, the Maldives |
| July 5 | Conversation for The School of Life (virtual) Amsterdam, the Netherlands |
| August 10 | Lecture on travel, Book Passage Corte Madera, California |
| August 10 | Conversation, Book Passage Travel Writing Conference Corte Madera, California |
| September 14 | Keynote, Adventure Travel World Summit Sapporo, Japan |
| October 4 | A conversation on compassion for Coca-Cola (virtual) Atlanta, Georgia |
| October 30 | Zen Luminaries conversation (online) Santa Rosa, California |
| November | Conversation with Stephen Batchelor, Musashino U. Koyasan, Japan |
| November | Conversation with Stephen Batchelor, Camphor Village Kyoto/Nara, Japan |
| April 2024 | Isherwood-Bachardy Lecture, Huntington Museum San Marino, California |
| July 8-13 | Modern Elder Academy workshop with Chip Conley Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| October 2024 | Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire |
Many more engagements are currently in the works.