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!
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THE NEWS ARCHIVES
- January 2025
- 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
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Son”—a review of Nick Harkaway’s novel Karla’s Choice, published in Air Mail, October 21, 2024
“The Moving River”—a short essay on my 37 years in Japan to go with Magdalena Sole’s series of seven artist’s books chronicling her 33 years of visits to the country—October 2024.
“The Zendo called the World”—an essay on art as contemplation and act of worship, based around the islands of Naoshima and Teshima, in Lion’s Roar, October/November 2024.
“The Light in Kyoto”—a short tribute to the irreplaceable editor Ken Rodgers in the indispensable Kyoto Journal, December 2024
“The Kid Stays Out of the Picture”–an essay (accompanied by podcast interview) on staying with some monks, published in Air-Mail, January 4, 2025
“What I Find in Solitude and Silence on the Cliffs of Big Sur”–an essay on Thoreau and the meaning of solitude for the Los Angeles Times, January 5, 2025.
“Pico Iyer’s Wide-Awake Silence”—A long interview with Nautilus, January 10, 2025.
“Hospitals of the Soul”—a long essay on what we stand to lose if monasteries become extinct–Globe & Mail, January 11, 2025.
Aflame: A book on my first 100 retreats at a Benedictine hermitage in Big Sur, California—published by Riverhead, January 14, 2025 (published by Cornerstone in Britain and Penguin India as Learning from Silence, in February 2025).
A long talk with Terry Gross for “Fresh Air” on public radio—January 15, 2025.
A very long talk with soulful Jenna Abdou on the 33 Voices podcast—January 15, 2025
An hour-long chat with Mina Kim at KQED’s “Forum” show—January 16, 2025.
“Losing Everything to Fire Changed How I Lived”–An essay on the Los Angeles Fires, for The New York Times Opinion page—January 18, 2025
A podcast interview with New York Times Book Review editor Gilbert Cruz—January 19, 2025
An essay on a cure for hopelessness, recorded as part of the Hidden Brain podcast (the first such essay ever to be a part of Hidden Brain)—January 20, 2025.
A conversation with the amazing William Green at the Asia Society, on January 22, 2025–
The Search for Liberation”—an essay to serve as Introduction to a new edition of Pankaj Mishra’s The End of Suffering. Published by Penguin India, January 2025.
Numerous podcasts with Jonathan Fields, Elise Loehnen, William Green, Christopher Lydon, Jeremy Bassetti, Rolf Potts, Jonathan Bastian, James Shaheen and many others—released January 2025.
If you’re interested in hearing Pico Iyer speak, here are a few dates and places to try:
| Jan. 27 | Conversation about Aflame, Zen Luminaries Podcast Online |
| Jan. 28 | Conversation around Aflame, Vroman’s Books Pasadena, California |
| Jan. 30 | Conversation on Aflame, Books and Books and others Online |
| Feb. 23 | Conversation with Richard Powers, UCSB Santa Barbara, California |
| April 7-11 | TED Mainstage Talk, TED Annual Conference Vancouver, Canada |
| April 13 | Conversation around Aflame Dayton, Ohio |
| April 22 | Conversation with Paul Holdengraber, JAACC Los Angeles, California |
| April 26-27 | Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Los Angeles, California |
| May 6 | Conversation with Marina Abramovic, UCSB Santa Barbara, California |
| May 27 | Keynote conversation at NAFSA annual conference San Diego, California |
| August 18-23 | Workshop, Modern Elder Academy Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| October | Bali Literature Festival Ubud, Indonesia |
| April 29-May 7, 2026 | Lectures, Gohagan ship Japan-Korea |
Many more engagements are currently in the works.