Undomesticated

22/07/2022

Between our interview and the essay she wrote for us, Faith Adiele offers some of the best and most actionable advice I've ever read on ethical travel writing. Her insights are a must for anyone creating travel content.

As part of our series on ethical travel writing, we recently spoke with Faith Adiele, travel writer, author, and founder of the nation’s first workshop for travel writers of color through VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation). We discussed misconceptions about the travel writing genre, how ...

15/06/2022

We're the first to admit that we haven't always gotten it right when writing about other cultures. To learn from writers who are doing it, well, maybe not "right" but definitely better, we've commissioned essays and interviews as part of our new series— Better Travel Writing for a Better World. Dr. Anu Taranath offers the best advice I've heard yet. I'm honored to have interviewed her.

We are trying to expand our sense of self, and expand our empathy, and ability to hold stories that are not ours. That's for me what my work is about. And pushing conversations without pushing folks away, is central to that.

07/03/2022

For many women, being “undomesticated” is not a choice. Every day as we dream of traveling, other women and children are being forced from their homes and countries due to abuse, war, or other disasters. Here's how to help them.

For many women, being “undomesticated” is not a choice. Every day as we dream of traveling, other women and children are being forced from their homes and countries due to abuse, war, or other disasters. We’ve rounded up some of the best ways to help refugees fleeing disasters around the world...

03/02/2022

Check out The Art and Craft of Asian Stories by Xu Xi and Robin Hemley. Yi Shun Lai just reviewed it for Undomesticated, and it completely changed the way she looks at her previous writing education. https://www.undomesticatedmag.com/blog/the-art-and-craft-of-asian-stories

Since reading Xu Xi and Robin Hemley’s latest offering, The Art and Craft of Asian Stories , I’ve been reconsidering everything I learned in my chi-chi American liberal arts college education.

20/01/2022

Bex Band is one of the coolest people I've met this year. I loved interviewing her for Undomesticated. After her first outdoor adventure—a 52-day, 631-mile trek along the Israel National Trail— she went founded an international group of women who are interested in experiencing adventure. If you're a woman with any inclination toward outdoor adventure and travel, check out her Facebook community, Love Her Wild.

When you set out for Israel, what were you imagining the experience would be like? The Israel National Trail initially caught my attention as my husband is originally from the country. As soon as I started Googling to find out more about the trail I was hooked. The views from the desert instantly

02/12/2021

For many of us, there's no better gift than a good book. Here is a list of the best books our contributors and editors read last year.

Our editors and contributors rave about the best books we read this year.

07/11/2021

Don't miss this incredible story we recently published at Undomesticated. While recounting a trip to Italy, Rachel Wyley vividly explores the line between appreciation and fe**sh, and the difference between an intellectual conversation and lived reality.

My hair elicits a global response. Its reception shifts like dialects do, as slight reinterpretations on a theme. In Rodez, France, I wore it as a lion does its mane. The stares were unrelenting, as though we were on safari.

14/10/2021

Anja Delgado on Puebla, Mexico and the value of a meaningful souvenir.
"My favorite part was always bringing home a part of that experience. No plan was complete before I found out what treasure my destination was best known for. I made sure I didn’t come home without it: perfumes from Paris, molas from Panama, alfajores from Buenos Aires. I loved finding the ideal object to remember the place, capture the person I'd been there and then."

While planning a work trip to Mexico City, a location I already loved, I hatched a plan to bring back the ultimate reward: a patio-full of the legendary Talavera clay pottery the city of Puebla is revered for. I pictured myself buying and shipping huge multicolored hand-thrown pots, pewter accents,

30/09/2021

We can't recommend this book highly enough. In 2016, inspired by an Egyptian dancer's 1940s journey across the United States, Randa Jarrar sets off on a solo road trip from California to Connecticut. The result is a sexually, emotionally, and philosophically provocative coming-of-age story that explores what it means to be a “Queer, Muslim. Arab American and proudly fat femme” in modern America, but also what it means to be entirely and unapologetically human. https://www.undomesticatedmag.com/blog/love-is-an-ex-country-review-jarrar

In 2016, inspired by an Egyptian dancer's 1940s journey across the United States, Randa Jarrar sets off on a solo road trip from California to Connecticut. The result is a sexually, emotionally, and philosophically provocative coming-of-age story that explores what it means to be a “Queer, Muslim....

16/07/2021

So excited to have our book lists featured by Bookshop!

Check out this list on Bookshop

24/06/2021

When contributor Sara Wilson and her husband David opened a bar in the picturesque old town of Altea, Spain, she only knew a few phrases in Spanish....which, to her great surprise, turned out to be an asset.

Only nine months after being laid off from our jobs in New York, my husband and I were about to open the doors to our brand-new bar and art gallery in Altea, Spain. We’d invested our life savings and the renovations had just been completed.

27/05/2021

Get ready to fill up your Kindle or your carry-on. Our editors and contributors recommend eight irresistible page-turners…with an Undomesticated twist: Expect strong women, international settings, and ideas to chew on. Thank you Lindsey Danis, Carmen Suen, Sara Wilson, Ava Homa, and Angie Cruz! https://www.undomesticatedmag.com/blog/summer-beach-reads

Get ready to fill up your Kindle or your carry-on. Our editors and contributors recommend eight irresistible page-turners…with an Undomesticated twist: Expect strong women, international settings, and ideas to chew on.

12/05/2021

We're honored to announce that Undomesticated has been awarded a $5,000 Research and Development grant and the 2021 Desmond Award from the from the Arizona Commission on the Arts to study and promote responsible travel writing. We’re grateful to the Commission and to Kathleen Desmond, who established the award to honor her late husband, Bill Desmond, a reporter, editor, and nonfiction writer. https://www.undomesticatedmag.com/blog/arizona-arts-grant

I’m honored to announce that Undomesticated has been awarded a $5,000 Research and Development grant and the 2021 Desmond Award from the from the Arizona Commission on the Arts to study and promote responsible travel writing. We’re grateful to the Commission and to Kathleen Desmond, who establis

07/01/2021

It has been so inspiring to see what Lisa Ellen Niver has accomplished over the last few years – she’s now a prolific travel writer, blogger and television commentator. What you might not know is that most of that success came after she thought she’d lost everything but got to work reinventing herself in her forties. https://www.undomesticatedmag.com/blog/reinventing-yourself-lisa-niver-reading-list-travel

Lisa Niver, now a prolific travel writer, blogger and television commentator, writes about reinventing herself after divorce and the books that helped her succeed.

04/12/2020

Looking for a gift for the travel lover in your life? The Undomesticated staff put together a list of gifts ideas that can bring us to all corners of the world, even if it’s just in spirit.

Need a gift for the traveler in your life? The Undomesticated staff put together a list of gifts ideas that can bring us to all corners of the world, even if it’s just in spirit.

23/10/2020

As someone whose debut novel centers on an affair between two jet-setting co-workers, there’s one thing Tiffany Hawk knows: If you want a spirited book club discussion, choose forbidden love. She's rounded up some great reads that feature international affairs worth talking about.

If you want a spirited book club discussion, choose forbidden love. Here are some great reads that feature international affairs worth talking about.

22/10/2020

Ever dreamed of opening a business abroad? If so, check out our interview with Sara Wilson, On Opening a Bar in Spain. This is the start of a series on international careers. Let us know what other international lives you want to know more about. tahttps://www.undomesticatedmag.com/blog/international-careers-saranbspwilson-on-opening-a-bar-in-spain

Sara Wilson, co-owner AlteArte in Altea, Spain While working abroad in Paris as a high school English assistant and a server at the Hard Rock Cafe, Sara Wilson fell in love with more than the French language and culture. She also fell hard for her now-husband David Fernandez, a Spanish-born chef

16/10/2020

Our latest book recommendation. Peace Adzo Medie offers a fresh take on an age-old question: At what point is a woman's personal happiness more important than financial security?

In Peace Adzo Medie’s debut novel, His Only Wife, a young Ghanian woman leaves home for the promise of the metropolis of Accra. But upward mobility comes with a price.

13/10/2020

If you don't think you have the courage to make it around the world on your own, you're in good company. Maggie Downs feared she couldn't do it either...but she did. In our interview, she talks about outlasting fear, seeing the world on a person level, and what to do when the thing that makes you who you are is suddenly off-limits.

Maggie Downs is the author of Braver Than You Think: Around the World on the Trip of My (Mother’s) Lifetime, which recounts the year she spent backpacking solo through seventeen countries―completing the bucket list her dying mother could not. We spoke about outlasting fear, seeing the world on a...

05/10/2020