In a Nutshell
Michael Shapiro writes about travel, food, entertainment, art, and environmental issues for magazines and newspapers. A former staff reporter and editor at newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area, he’s the author of The Creative Spark, a collection of interviews with many of the world’s most creative people, as well as A Sense of Place featuring conversations with leading travel writers. His stories appear in National Geographic Traveler, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Highlights
- Travel writer with features in National Geographic Traveler, including a cover story on Wales
- Contributing writer to the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle
- Writes for magazines including Saturday Evening Post, American Way, Alaska Beyond, Virtuoso Traveler, The Sun
- Awards: Bedford Pace, Lowell Thomas (from Society of American Travel Writers), Solas, Independent Publishers (for A Sense of Place) and four-time winner of Travel Classics’ top prize
- Freelance editor for newspaper, magazine and book projects
Michael Shapiro is the author of the new book, The Creative Spark: How musicians, writers, explorers, and other artists found their inner fire and followed their dreams, published in autumn, 2019. The book is a collection of interviews and biographical sketches that serve as an inspiration for creative endeavors. Among those whom Shapiro interviewed: Smokey Robinson, Lucinda Williams, Francis Ford Coppola, Pico Iyer, Jane Goodall, Amy Tan, David Sedaris, and Barbara Kingsolver.
A freelance journalist, Shapiro’s features have appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times. He’s written for the following newspaper sections: travel, news, sports, entertainment, business, real estate, home and garden, books, and the Sunday magazine. From 2011 to 2018, Shapiro wrote the San Francisco Chronicle’s weekly gambling column.
Among his travel assignments: Shapiro has bicycled down Mongolia’s unmarked dirt roads for the Washington Post, tasted tequila in Jalisco for American Way, played baseball for a week at the San Francisco Giants fantasy camp for Lexus magazine, and tracked pumas in Chile’s Patagonia region on a photo safari for a custom lifestyle publication. He’s written for magazines including the Saturday Evening Post, The Sun, AFAR, Virtuoso Traveler and Alaska Beyond. He’s even profiled Jane Goodall for O the Oprah magazine.
Shapiro’s National Geographic Traveler cover story, about Jan Morris’ corner of Wales, won the 2007 Bedford Pace grand award for best feature about Great Britain; the prize was a week in the U.K. His article about sustainable seafood in Vancouver earned the 2016 Explore Canada Award of Excellence. He’s won the Lowell Thomas award from the Society of American Travel Writers, the Solas award for travel essays, and is a four-time winner of Travel Classics’ top prize.
Shapiro’s first literary book, A Sense of Place, is a collection of interviews with the world’s leading travel authors including Bill Bryson, Jan Morris, Peter Matthiessen, and Paul Theroux. In 2008, he wrote the text for Kraig Lieb photography’s book, Guatemala: A Journey Through the Land of the Maya. In 1997, Shapiro published NetTravel: How Travelers Use the Internet, an early guide to online travel planning.
He co-directed and produced the 2017 documentary film, Junkyard Alchemist, about Sebastopol artists Patrick Amiot and Brigitte Laurent, who turn junk into art. The film earned Best of the Fest recognition in the short film category at the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival. That same year, Shapiro delivered a Sonoma County TEDx talk entitled “The Space Between” about how travel fosters understanding and can encourage people to build bridges rather than walls.
Shapiro lives with his wife, Jacqueline Yau, in Sonoma County, California, just north of San Francisco. He volunteers as a whitewater raft guide and sea kayak trip leader for Environmental Traveling Companions, a Northern California outfitter that takes special needs groups on outdoor adventures. In 2016, he co-led a 16-day raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, somehow rowing his wife without incident through the harrowing rapids of Lava Falls. He enjoys bicycling along the backroads of Sonoma County, playing friendly poker games, listening to live music, and attending San Francisco Giants games.
Shapiro's BookTV panel discussion with Isabel Allende, Tim Cahill, Jan Morris and Jeff Greenwald
Morris spoke about why, in spite of and because of the fact that she is a travel writer, she always returns home to her native Wales. She also spoke about her experience as a reporter covering the first expedition to successfully climb Mt. Everest.
Allende spoke about her experience as a forced traveler and how her life as an emigrant shaped the way she has defined home. Forced to flee the military coup in Chile in which her father was killed, Allende discussed how her memory and concept of home has been centered on people rather than places and objects.
Cahill described his home in Montana and jokingly attributed his continued residence there to the fact that “they don’t have any warrants for my arrest.” He spoke about how the wisdom derived from travel is only gained through reflection afterward.
Greenwald talked about his love for his hometown of Oakland as well as his adoptive home in Katmandu. He spoke about how his travel writing has changed as he began to publish his work on the Internet rather than in print.
PRAISE FOR MICHAEL SHAPIRO’S A SENSE OF PLACE
Hearing some of the great travel writers talk about their craft is certainly instructive for readers and writers alike. Most enjoyable are (Shapiro’s) interviews with some of the standard-bearers Arthur Frommer, Eric Newby, Peter Matthiessen and Jan Morris.
Shapiro functions as a less long-winded Charlie Rose. He’s done his homework, seeming to know the books as well as their authors do. He elicits philosophies of travel (Jan Morris says, ‘Grin like a dog and run about the city’) as well as homely advice (Tim Cahill: ‘Never go shark diving with a guy that’s only got one arm’).
I enjoyed A Sense of Place down to the last drop. This is a wonderful book, full of literary and experiential allusions — a fascinating read.
Illuminating, entertaining, and insightful.
Big-minded, big-hearted, progressive and compassionate.
Notable Work
Michael Shapiro’s latest book: The Creative Spark: How musicians, writers, explorers, and other artists found their inner fire and followed their dreams launched in November 2109. He delivered a TEDx talk in 2017 and earlier had a cover story in National Geographic Traveler magazine. See below for more.
National Geographic, December 2020: In remote Nepal, new roads bring opportunity and perils
In October, 2018, my wife and I joined a group of trekkers led by Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of Tenzing Norgay, who in 1953 was the first person (along with Ed Hillary) to reach the top of Mount Everest. For our trek in the Kingdom of Mustang,...
National Geographic, November 2020: How the mystique of Wales gave strength to a legendary writer
My editors at National Geographic made it clear to me that they did not want a personal reminiscence about Jan Morris after she died on November 20, 2020. They wanted a piece about Jan’s deep and abiding connection to her adopted home, Wales. She...
Deepening the Creative Flow with Pico Iyer
Saturday, March 6, 2020, 1:30pm PT (4:30p ET). A two-hour class during which Pico and I will share our advice for living a creative life and celebrating creativity through artistic endeavors. Open to all, $60. Learn more and register here:...
Get in touch
Please drop me a line. Whether you’re interested in "The Creative Spark" or booking an event, or are a long-lost friend, I’d enjoy hearing from you.