Famed travel writer who ‘goes nowhere’ for a living to launch new book in UAE

Famed travel writer who ‘goes nowhere’ for a living to launch new book in UAE

Pico Iyer will be speaking at the Sharjah International Book Fair 2022 on November 9

Photo: Malek Hue; Imaging: Raja Choudhury

Published: Thu 3 Nov 2022, 3:35 PM

What does seeing more of the world change for the person within? For more than three decades, Pico Iyer’s writings have given us insights into places, cultures and societies on the brink of transformation. What have set his works apart is the ability to go beyond the surface of places and sieve the truth from the hype. An extension of which is The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise, Iyer’s latest book that examines places that have been deemed ‘paradise’ but have been fraught with ambiguous realities. All set to unveil it at this year’s edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair, Iyer maps his journey as a writer and his transition from travelling to places to the journey one takes inwards by 'going nowhere'.

Edited excerpts from an interview.

Can you tell us a bit about The Half-Known Life, the book you will be unveiling at the Sharjah Book Fair?

The pandemic gave me a perfect chance to reflect on almost 50 years of crisscrossing the world — as well as 50 years of sitting still!