Midlist Writer: Planning my next adventure

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Planning my next adventure

As I've talked about earlier, I've been missing Ethiopia ever since I got back last April. I spent two months traveling around the country. For three weeks my wife joined me and I gave her a road trip around Ethiopia as a tenth anniversary present. It was also a work trip, resulting in an upcoming book, and travel series on Ethiopia and Somaliland for Gadling.

Well, I just got my ticket and I'm going back for another two months. I'll be spending the majority of the time living in the place you see here. It's called Harar, and it's a medieval walled city between the central Ethiopian highlands and the Somali desert. It's been a center of trade for at least a thousand years and has a fascinating mix of people and traditions.

The Hararis have their own culture and language. When I was there last time I tapped into a network of Harari writers, poets, musicians, lexicographers, and museum curators. It seems every educated person in that city is trying to preserve their culture. I'm planning to stay there and learn as much as I can in order to work on a book. Two months won't be enough, of course but this won't be my last trip if I have anything to say about it! I'm headed out in late February. Look forward to another series for Gadling, and perhaps a book in a couple of years!

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