Traveling like a local. It's never been more important.

If you’re the type that reads blogs by writers abroad, then you know that travel is awesome. And you probably also know that when Writer Abroad says travel, she doesn’t mean Cruise Ship. She means real-deal-get-on-a-public-bus-where-you-don’t-speak-the-language-and-just-go-for-it travel.

This kind of travel has never been more important. As countries go nationalistic in a world that’s ever more globalized, understanding people who differ from us can mean the difference between war and peace.

That’s why Writer Abroad has written her latest travel book, which is all about traveling like a local in the country she knows best–Switzerland. And she encourages other writers abroad out there to write their own versions of this book about the countries closest to their hearts.

Available next month, 99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a Local is one part travel book, one part culture guide, and total bucket list enjoyment. It allows you to say adieu to Lucerne and allegra to the place the Swiss voted most beautiful. It encourages you to cut the Swiss army knife from your shopping list and replace it with a rubber messenger bag. And it gives you the inspiration you need to stop following umbrella-toting tour guides (or books that act like them) and start following 320,000 well-dressed Swiss cows instead.

Whether you’re a vacationer rethinking your version of touring, an expatriate who wants to get to know your adopted country on a deeper level, or even if you’re Swiss—99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a Local is for anyone who believes that the best travel stories come from a desire not just to take a snapshot of a place from a train window, but to stop, smile, and disembark for a while in order to bring the meaning of that blurry photo into sharper focus.

To promote her new book, Writer Abroad will make special appearances in Switzerland in May. She’d love to see you at one of the following:

The Zurich Writers Workshop, May 14, 2:30 p.m. (Writer Abroad will join other authors to discuss how to build a writing career.)

The American International Club of Zurich TGIF, May 19, 6:30 p.m. (Writer Abroad will discuss American life after Switzerland (scary!), the benefits of traveling like a local, and host a quiz—with a book prize—to see who already travels Swisser than the Swiss.)

Global Book Fair, May 20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Writer Abroad will read a story to children and discuss some off-the-beaten-path family activities in Switzerland.)

Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I'd Known

Whatever one should know about Swiss life and living abroad, Writer Abroad learned the hard way. But now she makes living abroad a little easier (or at least a little funnier) in a just published essay collection titled SWISS LIFE: 30 THINGS I WISH I'D KNOWN.

What should one know about Swiss life? Well, how about the fact that you can be hired in one language and fired in another? Or the realization that your Swiss neighbor is not coming over to chat—she is coming over to clean your gutter? Or the reality that cheese is a homeopathic treatment—for lactating boobs?                     

Learned anything about life in Switzerland yet? Well, sit back, relax, and enjoy some cheese and chocolate. Because that’s just the beginning.​                                                                                                                          

SWISS LIFE: 30 THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN is a collection of both published (The Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic Glimpse, Chicken Soup for the Soul Books, and Brain, Child) and new essays in which Writer Abroad discovers that whatever she thought she knew about the land of a certain storybook mountain girl, she had a lot to learn about the real Switzerland, you know, the one on the world map.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Writer Abroad will read from her book at Orell Füssli, The Bookshop (Bahnhofstrasse 70, 8001 Zurich) on May 23, 2014 at 7 p.m. She encourages anyone to stop by and say hello in whatever their official language of choice may be. Free bookmarks will reward your visit.

Come to the reading and get a free bookmark.

But if you can’t make it, the print version of the book is now available on amazon.com. The Kindle version is available too. Alternatively, you can join Writer Abroad’s mailing list to find out when the book is available at other retailers. Nook, Kobo, and other versions are also coming soon. 

What's more, to celebrate the publication of Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I'd Known, Writer Abroad is offering 30% off the print book on amazon.com to her mailing list members (see, great deals in Switzerland do exist!). To get the discount, all you have to do is join the book's mailing list by Monday, May 12. The code will be e-mailed to all mailing list members on Tuesday, May 13 and will remain valid for one week. Writer Abroad says danke vielmal in advance for your support.

Find out more at www.swisslifebook.com

Zurich Writers Workshop 2014

Registration is now open for the 5^th Annual Zurich Writers Workshop, which will take place May 23-25, 2014.

Writer Abroad co-founded the Zurich Writers Workshop back in 2010 when she learned a lesson about living abroad: if you want something in your adopted country or city and it doesn’t exist, sometimes you have to create it yourself.

New logo designed by Michael K. Wright

Five years later, English-language writing support in Zurich–thanks to her workshop, and also to Nuance Words–actually exists. In fact, one British writer living in Zurich who Writer Abroad spoke to last weekend said she didn’t want to move back to London because the writing environment in Zurich was so good. Writer Abroad considered this the best compliment she’s ever gotten.

Anyway, this year, the Zurich Writers Workshop will feature two different courses. The first, taught by Anne Korkeakivi, will focus on both short and long fiction. The second workshop, taught by Chantal Panozzo, aka Writer Abroad, will discuss ways to make a living as an international creative person.

On May 23, Orell Füssli The Bookshop will host a reading featuring the two authors. This reading is free and open to the public.

If any of this sounds mildly interesting, you can find out more at zurichwritersworkshop.com

International Writing Round-up: Workshops & More

Can’t find a job in your home country? Then maybe this op-ed, Can’t find a job? Move overseas, from The Washington Post, will convince you to look internationally.

University of Oxford Fiction Tutor Amal Chatterjee and award-winning poet Jane Draycott will present a Creative Writing Weekend in Amsterdam from March 1-3, 2013. Topics include fiction and poetry. The course fee is 250 Euros.

Anyone who thinks China is threatening to become the next world superpower obviously hasn’t seen that a good portion of its residents don’t even have toilets.  Listen to an episode of This American Life on what some expats in China, including the China Correspondent for The New Yorker, have to say about living in China.

The English Bookshop in Zurich, Switzerland will host a reading on Sunday, December 2, from 16:00-17:30, featuring JJ Marsh, who is the author of the Zurich-based debut, Behind Closed Doors. She will read from her second novel in the series, Raw Material.

What the heck does it mean to find a fresh voice? It’s hard to say, except Writer Abroad knows one when she reads it. So if you are looking for a new blog to keep you entertained during work (wait, you would never read a blog during work) check out Reading and Chickens. It’s written by Shalini, who is not a writer abroad, but rather an American writer in Seattle.  But since Seattle is over 1700 miles from her hometown in the Chicago area, Writer Abroad has decided to give her an honorary international status.

Any writing news you'd like to share?

Book Reading May 18 in Zurich

Attention Switzerland-based writers and book lovers: Even if you’re not attending this year’s Zurich Writers Workshop, you can still meet our authors in residence (or support them by buying their books). They will be giving a reading on Friday, May 18, from 8:15 to 10 p.m. at Orell Füssli The Bookshop in Zurich. Diccon Bewes will be reading from his Switzerland bestseller, Swiss Watching, and Sam North will be reading from his award-winning novel The Old Country. The event is free and open to the public. Light snacks will be served. Hope to see you there. For more information on Diccon Bewes, read his interview with Writer Abroad.