Want to dig a bit deeper, stretch a bit wider, discover unique insights in your reading? So do I! That's why we literary nomads explore beyond the comfortable beach read. Subscribe for podcasts and video, fiction and poetry, essays and online courses, unexpected freebies, and ways to lever your literacy into activism! For students of all ages, educators of all kinds, and just plain out litterateurs!
On Anne, Africa, and Antrobus
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25 Jan 2026 Literary Pilgrimages Reader, Looking a bit forward, I'm starting to outline the next podcast Journey #7, on Literary Tourism. A bit odd as a topic, but maybe refreshing and lighter for the summer after a heavy dose of Le Guin's ethics and agency dilemmas. And as a running example, I'm looking at uncovering Prince Edward Island's Anne of Green Gables phenomenon--along with a few short side trails. And that's where you might come in! I'm outlining what looks like a 12-14 episode season, perfect for the summer (and to give me a breather to write the mainstay of the book). But there's room to talk about fan-books and locations and travelogues you may know about! Here's what I have so far:
Also looking to fit in something from anthologies: Other Roots, 1500 Years of African and Asian Travel Writing, and Travel Writing and the Transnational Author. A lot of writing from Africa, from Iran, from the Arab world, out there. But will need to survey it. Any ideas to add into the mix? Any adventure you'd like to relate? Now is a good time to weigh in!
Literary Nomads: Words from Nigeria Pt. 2: Soyinka's Tiger and Brother JeroThere really is too much to say about Nigerian writers, and the vital work they've produced across the last 70 years, and especially in the last 20, can't be ignored. But we're more than willing to try, it seems. For someone with a lifetime of reading and a bunch of degrees and certificates, you'd think I'd have read more than Achebe and Adichie. But the past two years of exploring have provoked far more. This latest episode spends a bit of time with the four eras of Nigerian literature, but also the specific mythologies I've lived in the US which have worked to promote my blindness, even after having taught Achebe for many years. Here are a few more popular black writers from Africa you might check out:
Let me know if there are any reads from Africa that are your favorites! I conclude (this round) of Nigerian writers and literary frameworks this week with a look at Akwaeke Emezi's YA novel, Pet. Episodes ahead:
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Calendar: A Season TurnsYeah, we can pretend we're half-way through winter . . .
Some Flash Fiction:Early Book ReviewThe Perseverance by Raymond Antrobus (2018) Antrobus takes on our language and poetry expectations, uncovering our limits on meaning, not just from his perspective of a Jamaican or deaf person, but from one who has experienced gulfs of indifference. I can't describe the reading experience as anything more than broadening, and uncovering my ignorance of cultural, racial, and raw physical marginalization.
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Big reads and bigger writes in my future. How about you? Let's trade anticipation and dread stories! Steve What's Still Ahead?
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Waywords Studio
Want to dig a bit deeper, stretch a bit wider, discover unique insights in your reading? So do I! That's why we literary nomads explore beyond the comfortable beach read. Subscribe for podcasts and video, fiction and poetry, essays and online courses, unexpected freebies, and ways to lever your literacy into activism! For students of all ages, educators of all kinds, and just plain out litterateurs!