Teresa Lynn Hasan-Kerr is an AmeriCorps VISTA for Literacy Mid-South, which aims to eradicate illiteracy in Memphis. She has a background in teaching ESOL and writing travel lit. Her work has been in Lonely Planet, Culture Trip, Morocco World News, Coldnoon, Past-Ten, Refinery29, and Wry Times.
How did you get started traveling?
I moved a lot as a kid. My dad was in the Navy, so it was expected that we’d keep moving. The rhythm of being uprooted and settling down only superficially became impressed in my subconscious. Even though I always wanted to belong to a community eventually, it’s simply a hard habit to break. But I noticed that all of the places I’d been were colored by who I was at the time, and this was inseparable from the travels.
How did you get started writing?
I have loved to journal since I learned how to write, and the story is similar with reading. I started in high school, when I had a poetry blog during my own proAna/Mia years about food that was doing pretty well. The music of my poems was influenced by Joanna Newsom and Regina Spektor, for sure. My English teacher didn’t hate my work and said something like she could see me writing one day. So I went to college to write. I gravitated towards writing about how your inner world influences the way you experience different environments, and how a place can help you change how you see yourself.
What do you consider your first “break” as a writer?
This is perhaps an odd concept for me, since I don’t know if I want to have an official moment where I feel broken-in to writing or a place, or being human. I think I ought to focus on just producing things I value and just experiencing the world. Though, it was a big deal the first time I got a piece accepted.
As a traveler and fact/story gatherer, what is your biggest challenge on the road?
Going on a trip and not knowing what I’ll write about next. Perhaps this is because travel is what I have done outside of writing, so the travel comes first. I’ve learned to allow questions to arise and let my answer-seeking reveal the story. I’m very much a Sagittarius.
What is your biggest challenge in the research and writing process?
There are multiple storylines happening in each experience. Even when I’m very present with the here and now, there are many levels I’m engaging with a place. I often want to weave absolutely all of it together into one piece because that mirrors how things really were. For shorter writing, like essays, this urge isn’t best to follow.
What is your biggest challenge from a business standpoint?
Probably being on social media as a person and not so much as a polished business. I want to make my silly jokes and say what I’m feeling. Am I supposed to be branding? Does branding mean I should only talk about a handful of topics and in a certain style?
Have you ever done other work to make ends meet?
I’ve taught English to speakers of other languages and I work full-time in literacy now. I like variety, so I have a lot of interests I wouldn’t mind pursuing professionally, someday.
What travel authors or books might you recommend and/or have influenced you?
Celine’s gritty Journey to the End of the Night, James Joyce’s work. I am partially embarrassed to say expat groups like the Lost Generation and the Beats influenced me. I like southern gothic a lot, and regionalism. Carson McCullers. Of course, the way Joan Didion describes California, where I was born. Willa Cather. Sherwood Anderson. I like the way Jonathan May describes Africa in poetry. Travel publications like anthologies and journals are the best place to find great contemporary writers.
What advice and/or warnings would you give to someone who is considering going into travel writing?
I only have my opinion that if you’re writing for tourism, you don’t have to sound like a commercial. I think that’s gotten old. As well, guides can be more inclusive when you consider cultural attitudes towards different minority groups. Yes, a traveler should be mindful of where they are going, but not every destination is automatically accepting of every traveler, and it’d be great if we could be more honest about that.
What is the biggest reward of life as a travel writer?
Learning. And there’s so much to learn about people, the planet, yourself, life, death, love, etc. through travel.
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