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!

“On Travel-Writing”—an interview with Rick Steves, broadcast on public radio stations across the U.S. on November 7, 2021

“The Future of Hope”—a conversation with Elizabeth Gilbert broadcast for the “On Being” show and podcast on public radio stations across the U.S. on November 18, 2021

“Navigating the Poles”—an Opinion piece on traveling between Japan and the U.S. during the pandemic, The Los Angeles Times, November 30, 2021

“The Magic of Jan Morris”–a review of the classic historian-traveler’s final book, Allegorizings, for Air-Mail, December 18, 2021.

“Travel after COVID Lockdowns: In Search of Wonder”–a short essay on The Year in Travel for the Wall Street Journal’s Year in Review section, December 10, 2021

“Postcard from Kyoto”—a brief essay on the holiday season during COVID-19 in Japan for the Sunday Times (London), December 26, 2021

“The Good Earth”—a long essay on travel in the age of Apocalypse, for Outlook India, January 7, 2022.

“How To Take a Life-Changing Trip”—a year-long class in seven modules for TED, throughout 2022

A talk with Hindu nun Pravrajika Vrajaprana for the public-radio program, “Life Examined,” broadcast on January 15, 2022.

“Sane, Economy Class Asian-Americans”—a review of the book Joan is Okay, by Weike Wang, for Air-Mail, January 22, 2021.

“Alone in Kyoto”—an essay on the joy of being in an ancient capital with no international visitors—Financial Times, February 5, 2022

“Half a Century of Travel”–a long essay on how the traveling world has changed since 1974, for The Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2022.

“To my Lost Trishaw Driver”—A letter to a kind and touching soul briefly met in Burma in the collection Letters to a Stranger, edited by Colleen Kinder (Algonquin Books), March 2022.

“My Flights from the Real”—a short essay on my near-fatal love of illusion, for Lion’s Roar, April/May 2022.

If you’re interested in hearing Pico Iyer speak, here are a few dates and places to try:

March 2 Conversation with Erik Larson, UCSB
Santa Barbara, California
March 3Universal-McCann Client Summit
Ojai, California
March 9-16Silversea World Cruise 2022
Zanzibar-Mahe
April 23 Conversation with Krista Tippett, SF City Arts
San Francisco, California
April 29Keynote lecture, Travel Con
Memphis, Tennessee
May 11Workshop on stillness (virtual)
Six Senses Resorts
May 13 Conversation with Elizabeth Strout, UCSB
Santa Barbara, California
June 5-9Workshop with Abbess Fu Schroeder, Tassajara
Carmel, California
June 7Keynote, IBM Spark Design Festival (online)
June 25-28Onstage conversation, Aspen Ideas Festival
Aspen, Colorado
October 2-9, 2022Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire

Many more engagements are currently in the works.

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