Stephanie Elizondo Griest – författare

After a decade of chasing stories around the globe, intrepid travel writer Stephanie Elizondo Griest followed the magnetic pull home-only to discover that her native South Texas had been radically transformed in her absence. Ravaged by drug wars and barricaded by an eighteen-foot steel wall, her ancestral land had become the nation's foremost crossing ground for undocumented workers, many of whom perished along the way. The frequency of these tragedies seemed like a terrible coincidence until Elizondo Griest moved to the New York-Canada borderlands. Once she began to meet Mohawks from the Akwesasne Nation, she recognized striking parallels to life on the southern border. Having lost their land through devious treaties, their mother tongues at English-only schools, and their traditional occupations through capitalist ventures, Tejanos and Mohawks alike struggle under the legacy of colonialism. Toxic industries surround their neighborhoods, while the U.S. Border Patrol militarizes them. Combating these forces are legions of artists and activists devoted to preserving their indigenous cultures. Complex belief systems, meanwhile, conjure miracles. In All the Agents and Saints, Elizondo Griest weaves seven years of stories into a meditation on the existential impact of international borderlines by illuminating the spaces in between and the people who live there. This edition features a new preface by the author.

With its breezy reviews and insightful advice, 100 Places Every Woman Should Go encourages women of any age to see the world — in a group, with a friend, or solo — and inspires them to create their own list of dreams. Based on her own explorations of many countries, states, and regions, and on interviews with travelers, award-winning author Stephanie Elizondo Griest highlights 100 special destinations and challenging activities — from diving for pearls in Bahrain to racing a camel, yak, or pony across Mongolia; to dancing with voodoo priestesses in Benin and urban cowboys in Texas; to taking a mud bath in a volcano off the coast of Colombia. Divided into such sections as “Places Where Women Made History,” “Places of Indulgence,” and “Places of Adventure,” this guidebook includes timely contact information, resources, and recommended reading. “Ten Tips For Wandering Women” features safety precautions plus pointers on haggling, packing, and staying parasite-free. Vivid portraits of free spirits like Frida Kahlo (“A tequila-slamming, dirty joke-telling smoker, this famous artist was bisexual and beautiful”) help travelers expand their experience.

Since publishing the original edition of A Woman’s World in 1995, Travelers’ Tales has been the recognized leader in women’s travel literature. The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010 is the sixth book in an annual series that presents stimulating, inspiring, and uplifting adventures from women who have traveled to the ends of the earth to discover new places, peoples, and facets of themselves. The common threads connecting these stories are a woman’s perspective and fresh, compelling storytelling to make the reader laugh, weep, wish she were there, or be glad she wasn’t. In The Best Women's Travel Writing 2010 readers will discover the hidden magic of Flamenco in Spain, walk the night and its terrors in Benin, have an excellent last day in Costa Rica, poke their way into the psyche of a security agent in Kabul, learn something new about death and Mexico in San Miguel de Allende, travel the darker side of the Hawaiian fantasy, draw a map of Argentinian tango, meet the best people in the world in Zimbabwe...and much more.

With its breezy reviews and insightful advice, 100 Places Every Woman Should Go encourages women of any age to see the world — in a group, with a friend, or solo — and inspires them to create their own list of dreams. Based on her own explorations of many countries, states, and regions, and on interviews with travelers, award-winning author Stephanie Elizondo Griest highlights 100 special destinations and challenging activities — from diving for pearls in Bahrain to racing a camel, yak, or pony across Mongolia; to dancing with voodoo priestesses in Benin and urban cowboys in Texas; to taking a mud bath in a volcano off the coast of Colombia. Divided into such sections as “Places Where Women Made History,” “Places of Indulgence,” and “Places of Adventure,” this guidebook includes timely contact information, resources, and recommended reading. “Ten Tips For Wandering Women” features safety precautions plus pointers on haggling, packing, and staying parasite-free. Vivid portraits of free spirits like Frida Kahlo (“A tequila-slamming, dirty joke-telling smoker, this famous artist was bisexual and beautiful”) help travelers expand their experience.