My newest book, The Vagabond’s Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery and the Art of Travel, debuted in October, with a series of virtual and live events in places like New York, Kansas, and San Francisco. Early praise for the book came from The New York Times, which noted: “Rolf Potts, the author who inspired wanderlust in many, has mastered the art of engaged travel.” Elsewhere, Uproxx called it “a book that’s snackable, weighty, and fun all at once…the premier travel writer of a generation offering travel inspiration in short bursts.”
Book-launch events and podcasts
Early publicity for The Vagabond’s Way included a 90-minute interview on The Tim Ferriss Show (see embedded video below); as well as a three-hour YouTube interview on Ari Shaffir’s Skeptic Tank, which took place at multiple locations in Paris (including the Palais-Royal, Luxembourg Garden, and Pont des Arts).
I also talked about The Vagabond’s Way on such podcasts as Zero to Travel, The Art of Manliness, Armchair Explorer, The Good Life Project, All the Hacks, Travel Matters, Spontaneous Moments, Cool Tools, and The Frommer’s Travel Show.
My book-launch events with Ernest White II at Book Passage in California, and with Ari Shaffir at KGB Bar in New York City, were remixed into Deviate podcast episodes, which I’ve embedded below.
Summer in Europe, autumn in DC
The summer of 2022 found me back out on the vagabonding road, where I traveled to Europe for the first time since before the pandemic. In addition to teaching two sessions of my annual Travel Memoir writing workshop in Paris, I also traveled to Norway and the Faroe Islands for the first time ever.
Amid my autumn book-launch events, I moved to Washington DC for a couple months, where my wife Kristen Bush starred in a critically acclaimed performance as “Emma” in Duncan Macmillan’s play People, Places & Things. The Washington Post praised Kiki as “a performer with a commanding grasp of the task at hand.” Broadway World called her performance “beautifully calibrated”; DCist called it “masterful”; Theater Guide called it “searing…and superlative.”
Deviate podcast Season Five (and Four)
Season Five of my Deviate podcast will largely feature interviews with people I quoted in The Vagabond’s Way; thus far I’ve spoken with Paul Theroux, Tim Cahill, Eddy L. Harris, Lavinia Spalding, Ari Shaffir, Stephanie Rosenbloom, Carl Hoffman, Kate Harris, and Seth Kugel.
Season Four of Deviate, which concluded this summer, included episodes about nostalgia, digital nomadism, living and working in Antarctica, global train travel, the lost art of making mixtapes, the disappearance of an American traveler in India, microadventuring in Kansas, expatriate life in Korea in the 1990s, and professional indoor soccer in the 1980s.
To keep track of what I’ve been up to, subscribe to Deviate, or check out my Dispatches, Interviews, Events, and Classes here at RolfPotts.com.
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