Rachel Friedman

I’m a big fan of Kate Thorman’s and Nora Chovanec’s show The Innocents Abroad. They travel. They eat. Then they travel and eat some more. What’s not to love?

In their latest episode, they visit San Francisco’s State Bird Provisions, which, as luck and hard work would have it, just won the 2013 James Beard Aware for Best New Restaurant. Check it out!

And happy Monday.

Vela publishes fantastic nonfiction inspired by place. The site was established as “a space for women writers to write without worrying about adhering to the often male intelligences and styles of the publishing world or catering their writing to the narrow concerns and markets of “women’s magazines.”

Now they’re seeking nominations for great female nonfiction writers.

Here’s your call to action:

“We want to know which women writers you like “best,” who you think belongs on those reading lists and what works you wish got more attention. Sure, we all love Joan Didion, but who are her literary daughters and granddaughters writing the essay? What actual memoirs by women – opposed to essay collections – speak personally to the universal experience? Who is your favorite woman writer this year, and who of all time?”

So go on. Nominate away!

Hope you’re all having a great start to 2013. I’m ensconced at a writers’ residence in upstate New York and the break from Manhattan is doing my work wonders. As much as I love the city, sometimes a girl needs some trees and deer and snow to clear her head – and I’ve got all three in spades here.

There might be no better way to start a new year for a writer than with a piece in The NY Times so I present to you this brief love letter to Redfern, a neighborhood in Sydney that I absolutely adore. I spent a lot of time there over the summer, uncovering awesome new restaurants, bars, and galleries – not to mention drinking countless perfect coffees that have possibly ruined for good the American stuff for me.

Happy 2013 – and happy writing

I’ve got a feature article on female travel writing/writers out in the current issue of Bitch. You can’t get the goods online but head on over to your local bookstore for a copy of the magazine. You’ll be supporting an awesome publication – not to mention you’ll get introduced via my piece to a whole host of awesome female travel writers, plus the colorful fictional writer Impulsia Gushington. If that name doesn’t intrigue you, I just don’t know what will.

Happy Wednesday.

A really smart lady over at Creative Nonfiction recently sent me some great questions about my writing. You can read my hopefully as intelligent responses here.

Check out my Bon Appetit story on two new breeds of apples coming (relatively) soon to a grocery store near you.
Happy Friday!

I’m so excited that to tell you that my essay, “Discovery,” has won Creative Nonfiction‘s Down Under essay contest. I adore the literary journal CNF and being included in it twice in one year is writer heaven. The contest was in collaboration with Tashmadada - an awesome Aussie organization. Check them out.  The winners were announced at this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival. Sadly, I couldn’t be there but I got to record myself accepting the award, which is probably as close as I’ll ever get to being a celebrity.

As the title of the competition suggests, the piece is about Australia – a place I consider my second, much hotter home. You’ll be able to find it in CNF’s next issue, out in a few weeks.