Iris Smyles’s stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic, the New York Times, the New York Observer, BOMB, and other publications. She has written two books of fiction: Iris Has Free Time and the forthcoming Dating Tips for the Unemployed. She lives in New York and Greece. Visit her online at IrisSmyles.com.
Christopher Solomon writes about travel, outdoor pursuits, science, and the environment for the New York Times, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics, and other publications. He is a contributing editor at both Outside and Runner’s World. This is his second appearance in The Best American Travel Writing. His work also appeared in The Best American Sports Writing 2014. A former reporter for the Seattle Times, Solomon lives in Seattle. Find more of his work at chrissolomon.net.
Patrick Symmes writes: “I am a correspondent and travel writer for national magazines and the author of two books on the Cuban Revolution, Chasing Che (2000) and The Boys from Dolores (2007). The latter made the New York Times Ten Best Books list for 2007. I have been a contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine, Outside, and Condé Nast Traveler, and after more than 20 years of writing about the remote regions of the world and the ragged edges of geopolitics, I am surprised to find that I crave even more.”
Paul Theroux is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Lower River and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He lives in Hawaii and Cape Cod.
Notable Travel Writing of 2014
SELECTED BY JASON WILSON
GRAHAM BOYNTON
The New Jet Age. Vanity Fair, July.
FRANK BURES
Branding Guyana. Nowhere, August.
ERICA CAVANAGH
Oranges. Bellevue Literary Review, Fall.
JULIA COOKE
Waiting for Exile. Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring.
NATHAN DEUEL
The Cantina Scene. Morning News, May 20.
COLIN DICKEY
On the Open Polar Sea. The Believer, February.
BILL DONAHUE
The Hero’s March. Washington Post Magazine, March 23.
CAMILLE T. DUNGY
A Brief History of Near and Actual Losses. Virginia Quarterly Review, Summer.
GEOFF DYER
Shipmates. The New Yorker, April 21.
BRIAN T. EDWARDS
Road to Rapid City. The Believer, June.
NATHAN ENGLANDER
Inside the Liquidrom. New York Times Magazine, March 30.
STEVE FEATHERSTONE
Snakelandia. Oxford American, Spring.
DOUGLAS FOX
The Time I Got Stranded in Antarctica. TheAtlantic.com, January 7.
J. MALCOLM GARCIA
Praying in Reyhanli. Tampa Review, Fall.
KEITH GESSEN
Waiting for War. The New Yorker, May 12.
ANNE GOLDMAN
Travels with Jane Eyre. Georgia Review, Fall.
ADAM GOPNIK
Stones and Bones. The New Yorker, July 7 & 14.
JEFF GUNDY
The Other Side of Empire. Georgia Review, Fall.
GABRIELLE HAMILTON
Big Night in Uruguay. Travel + Leisure, April.
KATE HARRIS
Lands of Lost Borders. Georgia Review, Fall.
EVA HOLLAND
Birth of a Birder. World Hum, June 24.
ANDY ISAACSON
Island at the End of the World. National Geographic Traveler, August/September.
LESLIE JAMISON
It Does Not Happen by Machine. Witness, Spring.
GEORGE JOHNSON
The Nuclear Tourist. National Geographic, October.
GIDEON LEWIS-KRAUS
LAURA MILLER
Romancing the Stones. The New Yorker, April 21.
JON MOOALLEM
A Journey to the Center of the World. New York Times Magazine, February 23.
DAVID NAIMON
Third Ear. Fourth Genre, Spring.
JOSIP NOVAKOVICH
Jerusalem According to Cats. Narrative, Winter.
DAVID OWEN
Floating Feasts. The New Yorker, November 3.
Game of Thrones. The New Yorker, April 21.
STEPHANIE PEARSON
The Devil Made Me Do It. Outside, February.
TONY PERROTTET
The Cave Dwellers. Smithsonian, February.
BRIAN PHILLIPS
The Sea of Crises. Grantland, November 5.
DAVID QUAMMEN
Franz Josef Land. National Geographic, August.
EMILY RABOTEAU
Who Is Zwarte Piet? Virginia Quarterly Review, Winter.
ANDREW REINER
One Man’s Beat. Washington Post Magazine, March 23.
NATHANIEL RICH
Hitler’s Airport. The Atlantic, April.
CHRIS RYAN
Cuba, Undistilled. World Hum, December 20.
DAVE SEMINARA
Day of the Goose. Morning News, March 20.
GARY SHTEYNGART
Wet Hot Israeli Summer. New York Times Magazine, February 23.
FLOYD SKLOOT
To Land’s End and Back. Boulevard, Spring.
CHRISTOPHER SOLOMON
The Soul of Skiing in the Great White North. Outside, November.
JEFFREY TAYLER
Bogotá’s Bohemian Renaissance. National Geographic Traveler, October.
SCOTT WALLACE
Over the Horizon. National Geographic Traveler, February/March.
JASON WEIL
Back in the U.S.S.R. New York Times Magazine, June 29.
GRAEME WOOD
Burmese Daze. The Atlantic, March.
ESTHER YI
Pistachio Politics. The Atlantic, September.
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About the Editors
ANDREW McCARTHY, guest editor, is the author of the New York Times best-selling travel memoir The Longest Way Home. He has served as an editor at large at National Geographic Traveler and been named travel journalist of the year by the Society of American Travel Writers. He is also an actor and director.
JASON WILSON, series editor, is the author of Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits and the digital wine series Planet of the Grapes. He has written for the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Daily News, and many other publications. He is the founding editor of The Smart Set and Table Matters.