Granta 157: Should We Have Stayed at Home?

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From Antarctica to the US-Mexico border, and from a Siberian whale-killing station to Taipei's alleyways, these dispatches capture a world in constant motion, even in lockdown. Travel invites us to embrace the experience of being a stranger, highlighting that one person's frontier can be another's home. Nearly forty years after its first travel writing issue, a new generation of global writers redefines the genre in this edition, guest-edited by award-winning travel writer William Atkins. Contributions include Jason Allen-Paisant reflecting on childhood trees in Jamaica from Leeds, Carlos Manuel Alvarez navigating Cuba's customs, and Eliane Brum's journey from the Brazilian Amazon to Antarctica amid climate crisis. Francisco Cantu and Javier Zamora recount a former border guard's visit to the US-Mexico border with a childhood undocumented migrant. Jennifer Croft presents a richly illustrated essay on postcards and graffiti inspired by Los Angeles, while Bathsheba Demuth explores a whale-hunting station in Russia. Sinead Gleeson visits Brazil with Clarice Lispector, and Kate Harris engages with the Tlingit people in Alaska. Other notable pieces include Emmanuel Iduma's return to Lagos, Kapka Kassabova among gatherers in Bulgaria, and Taran Khan's encounters with Afghan migrants in Germany and Kabul. Jessica J. Lee searches for her mother's home in Taipei, and Sven Lindqvist offers a previously unpublished essay from 1987 in