My travel-essay, “Everywhere and Nowhere: Following Ibn Battuta Across Marbella”, has been selected as a finalist by Intrepid Times in their “A Book Led Me There” competition. Intrepid Times In this piece I venture beyond Marbella’s glittering façade of sun-saturated luxury—Ferraris, gold chains, shopping sprees—and into the old town’s labyrinth of alleys where the echoes…
A Secret Key: Returning to Jasper National Park When I began “On Borrowed Roads: Rediscovering Jasper,” I thought I was writing about distance — about what it means to return to Jasper National Park after so long away. I imagined readers who didn’t know the Canadian Rockies or the sound of the Athabasca River breaking…
I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. My surname alone has had people thinking that I’m from a lost tribe to an island in Japan. In this week’s Camino a Ítica, the way my name can cause consternation among some. Life on the peninsula is no longer so monochrome, or monotheistic. Click…
Sierra Fría – Valencia de Alcántara © Fátima Gibello Chapter 5 begins… “As you leave the tiny village of Las Huertas de Cansa, a jagged grey shark fin rises out of a patchwork of changing green. The bluff cuts across the horizon like a megalithic dorsal fin of craggy granite, making the way seem impassable until…
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Nathan James Thomas from Intrepid Times for a wide-ranging podcast interview where we dive into the heart of travel writing—and the heart of Extremadura. From the winding medieval streets of Cáceres to the winding paths of the writing life, we cover it all, of course, my new…
I first got to know Rolf Potts in the dark depths of the pandemic when he hosted a series of interviews with people around the world discussing their experiences through the COVID-19 lockdowns. He has a wonderful collection of author profiles on his site and I’m proud to be a part of them. Click over…
Stories Left in Stone, Trails and Traces in Cáceres, Spain I was lucky enough to have a nice chat with my old bandmate, drummer Grant Stoval on the Arts and Culture supplement on his Alberta Morning program on CKUA the other day. Have a listen to a walk though my new book Stories Left in…
Stories Left in Stone, Trails and Traces in Cáceres, Spain This weekend the regional and local press both published interviews with me (in Spanish) about my new book, Stories Left in Stone, Trails and Traces in Cáceres, Spain, published by the University of Alberta Press. The first interview in Avuelapluma is a very indepth…
In the first of the #StonesDeepDive series, an indepth look into Chapter 16, Stone Cartoons from Stories Left in Stone, Trails and Traces in Cáceres, Spain published by the University of Alberta Press. This part of the adventure takes place in Monfragüe National Park and the Sistine Chapel of prehistoric rock art in the region.…
My new book Stories Left in Stone, Trails and Traces in Cáceres, Spain with the University of Alberta Press is now available at fine bookstores everywhere. If not, don’t be shy to ask them to stock it. ‘A fresh and engaging outsider perspective on life in Spain.’ -Kirkus Reviews