New travel memoirs trending
Travel memoir and pilgrimage writing is getting noisy: J.F. Penn is publishing pilgrimage chapters on walking ancient routes for historical perspective. (x.com) A Silk Road memoir from RomaAquila recounts survival after an abduction, and a promoted collection, “Travel Stories and Highlights: 2018 Edition,” is being re‑circulated — all underscoring a taste for place‑driven personal narratives. (x.com) (x.com)
J.F. Penn launched Pilgrimage as a serialized project and ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund the book’s production in January 2023. (thecreativepenn.com) The memoir documents three solo pilgrimages — the Pilgrims’ Way (London to Canterbury), St Cuthbert’s Way (Scotland to Holy Island) and the Portuguese coastal route into the Camino de Santiago — and is described as roughly 200 pages in its trade editions. (jfpennbooks.com) A Silk Road memoir published under RomaAquila’s imprint, billed as Silk Road Nights (The Vagabunda: Journeys Without Borders), includes an episode the publisher’s descriptions call “a daring escape from abduction.” (overdrive.com) The Vagabunda volume is credited to Elyssa Vagabunda (also listed as Elizabeth Legge), is published by Roma Aquila, and carries an April 13, 2025 publication date on retailer listings. (barnesandnoble.com) The anthology Travel Stories and Highlights: 2018 Edition, compiled by Robert Fear, collects 60 travel stories and 40 highlights from 44 contributors and remains in print and ebook distribution across major retailers. (amazon.com)
