I’m always looking for people with stories to tell.
Most people like talking about their experience with an attentive listener and then later seeing it edited and ready for readers, if possible with their own photos as illustrations. I’m also happy to change names when that seems advisable.
Welcome to Turning East
This website features recorded interviews which were edited to be read but also to retain the voice of the individual storyteller. This means that the writing/telling style varies from one post to the next. Sometimes names are changed to protect privacy.
The interviews begin in 1985 and continue into the present. Most are set in China, Korea, Japan or the Philippines, some elsewhere. They center on personal, intercultural experience of life, work and travel. Occasionally I include a story of my own.
For author interviews, I read the book and come to the interview with a list of questions. For all others, if you are being interviewed, you know your story better than I do, so you’re in charge. My questions will most likely just ask for clarification or examples. The interview will probably take about an hour, either in person or online. Afterwards I’ll go through the very time-consuming process of transcribing the recording and editing it to about 2500 words. I’ll then send it to you for changes or corrections. I ask that you send it back within about a month. It will be posted about the first of the next month, or later if I have others waiting. Any changes after posting will be only corrections of minor errors, not rewrites.
