topic: TRAVEL medium: text The old dog walks a few paces, sniffs the air, then turns and looks back, checking up on the woman. In the western sky a quarter moon hangs. The woman is a silhouette against the evening sky. I watch her slow steps; she is hunched over […]
The Armchair Traveller by Dee Turbon, Scotland Edward sits with the curtains open, sits in the sunlight, his chair placed just so, and he wears dark glasses and drinks chianti from a dirty tumbler. On the television is a programme about Venice and lots of views of canals, and the […]
Travel to Budapest by Mriam Feder, Oregon We were seasoned travelers by the time we reached Budapest by overnight train. My daughter was much fresher than I was. She slept for most of the ride from Salzburg, while stern-looking guards from B-list World War II movies burst into our compartment […]
topic: TRAVEL medium: TEXT We huddled together, a bunch of American tourists in an alleyway in Beijing. A small crowd of people surrounded us. They inhabited this traditional neighborhood, known as a hutong. Not many hutong are left. They have, for the most part, been razed by the government and […]
The Sea of High Adventure, by Nina Clarke, London The first thing she felt for when she opened her eyes was Tiger. Tiger wasn’t there. Her hands scrambled on the ground for him but the ground was hot, hard and now it had given her a splinter in her palm. […]
topic: LOVE AND HEARTBREAK medium: TEXT as read at a PenTales event themed” Foreign Affairs Into the behemoth I shudder against the sickening whimper of morning’s cold, clods, stuck to my insides. Glancing around, a casual drawing, the passengers simmer as the mothers button up and challenge the world’s gaze. […]
LOVE & HEARTBREAK In the middle of a dinner that was billed as a quiet meal with a distant old family friend, his mood suddenly shifts. He takes on a serious tone: “I dreamt of you last night.” I laugh nervously and he continues: “You were standing on a hill, […]
topic: BORDERS medium: TEXT as shared at a PenTales event themed “Foreign Affairs” Listen to the Story! In the 1930s, just as the situation in Russia was seriously deteriorating under Stalin’s iron grip, Ella was 17 and studying at a Geneva university. The 1930s were difficult times for everyone. Ella’s […]
topic: BORDERS medium: TEXT as shared at a PenTales event themed “Foreign Affairs” Listen to the Story! “I think it’s best if we adopt the “tracing paper” approach – that is, applying a sheet of tracing paper to your letter, and writing my answers on top. With one of those […]