I’m thrilled that my third collection of travel stories, An Elephant Ate My Arm: More True Stories from a Curious Traveler, earned these awards:

• First Place, Travel, Paris Book Festival (2021)
• Gold Winner, Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) / eLit Awards
• Silver Medalist, North American Book Awards (2022)
• Distinguished Favorite, Independent Press Award (2022)
• Finalist, National Indie Excellence Awards
• Notable Indie Book, Shelf Unbound Best Indie Book Awards (2021)

Five of the stories in this book won 2022 Solas Travel Writing awards, including two gold awards. I’m honored and humbled—and even more certain you’ll enjoy the stories!

I’m honored that my second collection of travel stories, Your Crocodile has Arrived: More True Stories from a Curious Traveler, won the following awards:

• First Place, Travel, Independent Press Award (2020)
• Silver Medalist, North American Book Awards (2019)
• Winner, Readers’ Favorite Book Awards (5-Star Award)
• Finalist, American Book Fest Best Book Awards (2019)
• Honorable Mention, San Francisco Book Festival – Nonfiction

My first collection of travel stories, Lost, Kidnapped, Eaten Alive! True Stories from a Curious Traveler, won the following awards:

• Winner of the San Francisco Book Festival (2017) – First Place, Nonfiction
• Silver Medalist, North American Book Awards (2017)
• Silver Winner, Readers’ Favorite Book Awards – Travel (2017)
• Distinguished Favorite, Independent Press Award (2017)
• Gold Award, Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW) (2017)

Many of my essays and photos are also award winners; here are two biggies I’m thrilled about:

• Silk from Ashes, about the impact one woman, her bra, and 11,640 insect eggs made on war-torn Croatia, won the 2013 Lowell Thomas Gold Award for Cultural Tourism.
• My photo of a tiny frog nestled—nearly hidden—in the leaves of a colorful kalancho won first place in the Natural World category of Smithsonian magazine’s annual international photo contest (there were 60,000 entries).