Jeremiah Gilbert is a globe-trotting professor and award winning photographer and travel writer. When not in an airport, he’s either editing photos or prepping for class. We enjoyed having this Author Interview – Jeremiah Gilbert for our blog. Check out this fantastic author and follow them for more amazing stories.
Jeremiah Gilbert is an award-winning photographer and travel writer based out of Southern California. His travels have taken him to over a hundred countries and territories spread across six continents. His photography has been published internationally and exhibited worldwide. His hope is to inspire those who see his work to look more carefully at the world around them in order to discover beauty in unusual and unexpected places. He is the author of the collections Can’t Get Here from There: Fifty Tales of Travel, From Tibet to Egypt: Early Travels After a Late Start, and On to Plan C: A Return to Travel.
When did you start writing?
One of my earliest memories was writing and illustrating a story called “Cheese Please” about a cat searching for cheese, and the only animal who would give him any was a mouse. I was around five years old.
What was it like growing up?
My father was an artist, so growing up, I was surrounded by other artists, models, dealers, and collectors. I dabbled with painting and drawing when I was younger but found my visual creative outlet when I discovered photography. That was back in the days of film, and I’m thankful for what that taught me about seeing and composing.
How was your early life?
Quiet. I’m an only child and mostly kept to myself. You’d most likely find my nose in a book, if I was not composing something on guitar or drafting out a short story.
What has been the biggest influence in your career?
I’m very fortunate that both of my parents were very supportive of all my endeavors, whether academic or creative. My mom was also an avid reader, and I’d show her my drafts, knowing she’d lovingly give me her honest opinion. Unfortunately, I lost my mom to cancer and my dad to a heart attack over a decade ago. They used to be the first ones I’d tell my travel tales to when returning from a trip.
Tell us about your newest release.
My latest is On to Plan C: A Return to Travel. Whereas my first two books focused on writing about past travels, this one includes my photography and covers my return to travel in 2022 after being sidelined for two-and-a-half years due to the pandemic. It was interesting traveling with an eye on later writing about it. While I’ve always traveled with a journal, this time, I found myself making notes and capturing details I knew would make for good reading later.
Which book of yours would you call your favorite child?
I have found memories of the writing of my first collection, Can’t Get Here from There: Fifty Tales of Travel. I came up with the idea to start writing down some travel tales while traveling in the Balkans, started drafting out the first ones in a coffeeshop in London, and didn’t have a title for the collection until I wrote the ending piece.
What inspired you to write this book?
With On to Plan C I figured I could capture a moment in time, how travel had changed after the pandemic and how it had stayed the same. In the two-and-a-half-years I was grounded, I had also changed in what interested me and how I approached travel. I also enjoyed being able to include photography with this book and intend to do it will any future works.
What are you usually found doing when you’re not writing?
I’m a college professor and travel when on break, so most days I’m either in the classroom, responding to emails from students, or doing prep work. Like with my writing, I’m always revising my lectures and assessments, trying to improve them.
What does your writing space look like?
I don’t have a dedicated space. I can write most anywhere if it’s relatively quiet and the ideas are flowing. As I mentioned, my first collection was started in a coffee shop. I’m always leaving thoughts and notes on scraps of paper next to my bed as they often come late at night or early in the morning. I do have a home office, but I’m more often found writing on my laptop in the living room.
If you wrote your autobiography, what would you name it?
Not entirely sure, but based on my three books so far, it’s sure to have “travel” in the title.
How long did it take to write your novel, and what was your process?
The process for On to Plan C was to travel then write, so it was written in between trips. It covers travels from May 2022, when I returned to international travel, through to early January 2023. I finished it a few months later. While it is nonfiction, I did incorporate some concepts more often found in fiction. For instance, the first chapter, “Near Death in Fiji,” begins by foreshadowing an event that will occur halfway through that trip. The last chapter, “West of the Indies,” begins and ends with an allusion to a quote from Anthony Bourdain.
Favorite reads?
My favorite modern author is Cormac McCarthy, who passed away this year. His last two novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris, are companion pieces and were released within a month of each other last year. I read them both during the travels written about in “West of the Indies.” I was originally introduced to him based on my love for William Faulkner.
Do you have any book recommendations?
Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard is one of my favorite travel books. It’s old school travel writing, exquisitely observed and written. Paul Theroux started strong with The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia, recounting his travels on the Orient Express, the Khyber Mail, and the Trans-Siberian Express, through countries such as Turkey, Iran, India, Japan, and the Soviet Union. I also recently read Janna L. Goodwin’s The End of the World Notwithstanding: Stories I Lived to Tell and really wish I had come up with that title.
What’s your next big project?
Unsure. I’ve been drafting out some new travel tales that could be a follow-up to my first book. My second book, From Tibet to Egypt: Early Travels After a Late Start, was based on my journals from my first few years of travel, and I have journals covering the next few years that could be a follow-up to that one as well, though I’d include photos this time. Ultimately, it will probably end up being something I haven’t thought of yet.
Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Believe in your work. If you submit it for publication, there’s going to be a lot of rejection. But if you believe in what you’ve submitted, you’ll brush it off and submit again. Sometimes a rejection will come with some constructive criticism. Be open to it and learn from it.
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