by Michael Shapiro | May 1, 2018 | Blog, Books, Interviews, Literature, Stories, Travel
I’ve long felt a kinship with Wales, perhaps because it’s where one of my favorite writers, Jan Morris, lives. Recently I had the chance to stay overnight and tour Dylan Thomas’s boyhood home in Swansea. Then I visited his other homes in Laugharne...
by Michael Shapiro | Apr 15, 2018 | Blog, Interviews, Music, Stories
Sometimes a story comes along that breaks your heart before you start interviewing. And then when you get to know the subjects it becomes even more wrenching yet at the same time uplifting. The story of aspiring musician Bernie Dalton, who refused to let the loss of...
by Michael Shapiro | Apr 9, 2018 | Blog, Books, Food, Interviews, Stories, Travel
There’s nothing better than an editor asking you to go to a city you love and find the best places for food, wine, beer and chocolate. I traveled there last year, stopped briefly (for 2 hours, which is fast) at Powell’s City of Books, then got to work...
by Michael Shapiro | Mar 9, 2018 | Blog, Food, Interviews, Stories, Travel
Last fall I had the pleasure of spending 90 minutes with SingleThread chef and owner Kyle Connaughton at the outstanding Healdsburg restaurant he and his wife Katina Connaughton opened just over a year ago. Three weeks after the interview, I took my wife there for...
by Michael Shapiro | Jan 9, 2018 | Blog, Interviews, Stories, Travel
The opportunity to write for the oldest magazine in the USA about a topic I’m passionate about came together in the following story about the state of our oceans. Appallingly we treat as oceans mostly as sources of food, transport and recreation, and we use it...
by Michael Shapiro | Aug 8, 2017 | Blog, Books, Food, Interviews, Literature, Stories, Travel
I first interviewed Frances Mayes at her home in Tuscany in 2003 for my book of interviews with travel writers, A Sense of Place. It was a pleasure to speak with Mayes again in autumn 2016 for a story about the cuisine of this region of Italy, where food appreciation...
by Michael Shapiro | Aug 8, 2017 | Blog, Interviews, Stories
It’s been about 16 years since Patrick Amiot began transforming his street, and eventually much of Sebastopol, into an outdoor art gallery. About a decade ago we became neighbors and we’d hang out on his porch talking about life, art and turning dreams...
by Michael Shapiro | May 1, 2017 | Blog, Stories, Travel
People often ask me what my favorite destination is – I don’t have just one but I always include Guatemala, the hub of the Maya world, in my top 5. When National Geographic asked me to share some secrets I leapt at the opportunity. Here’s the story...
by Michael Shapiro | Mar 6, 2017 | Blog, Interviews, Stories, Travel
In Napa’s Oxbow Public Market, near the Napa River, we came upon the tasting room for the Napa Valley Distillery. I’d heard good things about their spirits, but what first caught my eye was the table crowded with hundred of little bottles of bitters. Among...
by Michael Shapiro | Jan 24, 2017 | Blog, Food, Interviews, Stories, Travel
My story about sustainable seafood in Vancouver won the 2016 Explore Canada Award of Excellence last fall which was gratifying because it was one of those stories I did in hopes of making a difference. Our oceans have been overhunted and polluted to near the breaking...
