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 we can diversify the publishing industry, and whether or not we should make a distinction between travelers and tourists.

As part of our series on responsible travel writing, we recently spoke with Zabrina Lo, an arts and culture reporter for a storied English-language magazine in Hong Kong. We talked about the many ways Chinese and British legacies influence her hometown, her life, and her work.

As part of our series on responsible travel writing, we recently spoke with Tarryn Tomlinson, a TV presenter, travel writer, and accessibility consultant based in Cape Town.

Bolts of lightning flashed across the night sky, the only lights besides those flickering in the distance more than 3,000 meters below at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, glimmering evidence of refuge I would do just about anything for.

As part of our series on responsible travel writing, we recently spoke with Xu Xi 許素細, Indonesian-Chinese-American, born and raised in Hong Kong. She is the author of fourteen books of fiction and nonfiction and one of Hong Kong’s leading writers in English. She is also editor of five anthologies of Asian writing in English, most recently, The Art and Craft of Asian Stories: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology. She currently occupies the William H.P. Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters at the College of the Holy Cross and leads international writing retreats through Authors at Large.

Travelers invaded my childhood. They were always there—well-heeled Westerners who stayed at the Peninsula Hotel; less affluent tourists from other hotels at the tip of the Kowloon peninsula jutting into the Hong Kong harbor; American sailors who poured out of battleships for their R&R, especially during the Vietnam war years; British and other expatriate hires relocating to their well-paid jobs as civil servants, university professors, medical, legal and other professionals, teachers in the foreign schools, diplomats and foreign correspondents.

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.

As part of our series on responsible travel writing, Dr. Anu Taranath explores the politics of writing by contributing a series of TIPS Letters, an exercise that has become a cornerstone of her teaching on culture, diversity, and social justice. You can use the exercise to engage more deeply with Things, Ideas, People, and even yourself.