Two SATW Awards for Egypt Articles

By Larry Habegger | July 28th, 2010 | No Comments »

I won a gold and a silver award in the SATW Western Chapter Awards for two stories I wrote about Egypt for the San Francisco Chronicle. “Buying a Shirt had Several Wrinkles” won the top prize in the category Newspaper Travel Story—less than 1000 words, and “Up a Lazy River: The Nile offers glimpses of ancient, modern Egypt” won silver for Newspaper Travel Story—more than 1000 words. I hope you enjoy them.

Writers’ Workshop at Book Passage, Saturday, June 26

By Larry Habegger | June 17th, 2010 | No Comments »

Connie Hale and I will be running a “Manuscript Clinic with The Prose Doctors: Polishing your prose so it sings” on Saturday, June 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Book Passage in Marin County. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to strengthen his or her writing in that crucial final draft where you craft the words to really work for you.

Sign up here.

Connie Hale and I will be running a “Manuscript Clinic with The Prose Doctors: Polishing your prose so it sings” on Saturday, June 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Book Passage in Marin County. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to strengthen his or her writing in that crucial final draft where you craft the words to really work for you.

Sign up here.

You’ve arranged the pieces of a reported article, you’ve penned a brutally honest memoir, you’ve finally finished that magazine feature. Now you’re ready to polish the prose so that it sings—and so that it speaks to every editor you send it to. Veteran editors Larry Habegger and Constance Hale of The Prose Doctors (www.prosedoctors.com) will spend the day with you practicing what writers call The Craft: paring prose to its essence, styling sentences with flair, and building memorable characters and scenes. The day will be filled with discussions of craft, practice sentences, and exercises to build new writing muscles. The instructors will review in advance a manuscript from each student, and during the class we will work on polishing one double-spaced page from that manuscript.

And here are a few words about Connie, my partner in The Prose Doctors:

Constance Hale teaches writing at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard and has edited more than two dozen books. She is the author of Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose. Her writing has appeared in Yoga Journal, the Los Angeles Times, National Geographic Adventure, Smithsonian and The Atlantic Monthly, among many other publications.

I hope to see you there. Sign up here.

Up a Lazy River: The Nile offers glimpses of ancient, modern Egypt

By Larry Habegger | June 28th, 2009 | No Comments »

My story about cruising the Nile ran in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday, June 28. Here’s the lead:

Up a Lazy River

Egypt’s story begins and ends with the Nile.

The great river made Egyptian civilization possible by bringing fertile soil and life-giving water to the desert. It set the stage for the world’s first stone building, for the great pyramids and Sphinx, for countless monuments to honor gods and rulers such as Horus and Tut, for the first nation-state.

And here I was on it, the silver water lapping the side of the boat as we poled away from the dock in the predawn light.

I had come to Egypt, as most tourists do, to see the pyramids, the mosques and palaces and souks, and the ancient temples and tombs strung like gems along the Nile. But it was the river that really spoke to me.

Read the rest here.

A World without Tigers

By Larry Habegger | June 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

My friend Brian Weirum has been working for almost two decades to protect the tigers of India and Nepal through his work with The Fund for the Tiger, where I’m on the board of directors. Part of his good work has been leading an annual fund-raising trip to India and Nepal through Mountain Travel Sobek. This trip has raised more than $175,000 that Brian has put directly into the field over the last 14 years.

Now the government of India is planning to ban tourism to the parks where the tigers still roam. See what Brian has to say about it and what the issues are at my blog post on Cleared for Takeoff: The Triporati Blog.

Praise for the Writers Workshop Sailing off Turkey’s Turquoise Coast

By Larry Habegger | March 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Last year’s trip was fantastic, but don’t take it from me, listen to what the participants had to say.

“What a journey, everything I hoped for and so much more! There is no better place to be lost in thought, no better teacher with whom to contemplate craft, and no better way to stretch the artist within than with fellow writers on the open waters. Turkey was presented in a tailored tapestry, finely woven with the filigree of hospitality, the bold color of pungent produce and the tinseled charm of attentive service. Whether it is the sapphire waters, the distant horizon or the inherently starry skies there is no way you won’t feel inspired!”
—Jennifer Leigh Rosen, Writer & Photographer, Baja California Sur, Mexico

“When I signed up for the workshop, I couldn’t have imagined what I would leave with: deep friendships, a new understanding of myself and my writing goals, an amazing collection of photos, and a great big notebook of souvenirs in the form of writing tips, techniques, and guidance I received from Larry, who has replaced my 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Klein, as my favorite instructor of all time. Sailing on a handsome gulet along the gem-colored shoreline of the Aegean Sea is the perfect place to get inspired, forget about all the distractions at home, and devote yourself to a week of writing.”
—Cheryn Flanagan, San Francisco, California
Read the rest of this entry »

Backpacking with my daughters

By Larry Habegger | August 31st, 2008 | No Comments »

My essay about taking my young daughters on their first mountain backpacking trip appeared in today’s San Francisco Chronicle Travel Section. Read it here, or see it with photos on my blog at Triporati.com.

Best Moments at the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference

By Larry Habegger | August 24th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

The Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference has come and gone and now that I’ve just about recovered from all the fun, here are my highlights. It was quite a time.

1. Alison Wright on her horrific accident in Laos and amazing recovery. Read her new book, Learning to Breathe. 2. Simon Winchester meeting his mentor, James Morris, for the first time, discovering a woman, soon to be Jan. 3. Isabel Allende on following her instincts. Did she really say that?! Only those present will know what I mean…sorry! 4. How do you spell karaoke? Battle between the “Wail of the Tormented” and Pauline Frommer’s exquisite voice. Who knew? And she says her kids don’t like her to sing!!?? 5. Don George’s moving eulogy and moment of silence to honor Linnea Larson, Tim Cahill’s wife, killed in a recent car crash. 6. Tim Cahill’s talk about founding Outside magazine, and why he left. Management mistreated his co-workers, the women. 7. My morning sessions on the Personal Essay. Lots of talent, lots of laughs, rewarding for me and for others (I trust). 8. Seeing fine old friends like the plump and expecting Jen Leo, “the other Larry” Larry Bleiberg, John Flinn, Don George, Tim Cahill, Tom Swick, Georgia Hesse, Catharine Hamm, Amanda Jones, Jim Benning, Bob Holmes, Simon Winchester, Isabel Allende, Phil Cousineau, George Olson, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Michael Shapiro, Janis Cooke Newman, Pauline Frommer, Alison Wright…the list goes on and on. Don’t miss it next year!

Backpacking the Desolation Wilderness

By Larry Habegger | August 12th, 2008 | No Comments »

My young daughters had never backpacked before this summer, and they were so excited when we got them real backpacks at REI. Our first test trip covered a mile and a half and climbed about 400 feet in Point Reyes National Seashore to Sky Camp. It wasn’t easy for my 8-year-old but she managed. Next was a 5-mile, 1500-foot climb in the Desolation Wilderness of California’s Sierra Nevada. Was I crazy? Find out here.

Amtrak San Francisco to Seattle

By Larry Habegger | August 12th, 2008 | No Comments »

At the end of July my family and I took Amtrak to Seattle for the thrill of an overnight train ride. We were on our way to visit friends in Leavenworth, Washington, a faux Bavarian tourist town that happens to be in an extraordinarily beautiful setting. I’ve put some thoughts down about the trip here.

Manhattan’s Bryant Park is the place to be

By Larry Habegger | June 5th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Several years ago I discovered Bryant Park just off Times Square and made a point of visiting whenever I was in New York. One visit I got caught in quite a thunderstorm. And just today I saw this story in The New York Times about the park being threatened by its success. Get there early and stake out your territory!