A farsang is an old Persian measurement of distance: the amount you can walk in a day.

Moving in the 21st century is complicated. The vast majority of the global population, even in the age of boundless budget travel and overtourism, can’t move freely. FARSANG takes these facts seriously with no sugar-coating. We hope to provide a home for critical writing about the dark sides of modern travel, alongside more colourful looks at cultures near and far.

Travel writing doesn’t have to mean sponsored bylines for an international hotel conglomerate, or a CEO talking about the scatology of their fifth attempt to summit Everest. It starts at home, wherever that may be, with a curiosity about the world and an impulse to follow it. The kind of impulse that won us the right to roam, or drove Dervla Murphy from Limerick to Lahore with just a bike and a few belongings. Or the one that drove you to the other side of your city out of pure boredom.

On top of our writing, we also have a podcast (available on SoundCloud) which transmutes our curiosity about the world into in-depth conversations about music.

FARSANG 

For FARSANG’s inaugural open call, we invite you to share work about the very places that you have nearby, that you might pass and ignore dozens of times each year. This might mean a different suburb, a nearby city or stretch of countryside: we leave this to you. In many ways, it is a test of both a writer’s curiosity and imagination: how can you show something that you would otherwise ignore in a dazzling new light?

We are interested in:

Reviews

Forgotten history through heritage and architecture

Reflective essays on the ‘nearby’, on staying where we are and the travel that becomes possible as a result.

A critical look at modern travel and tourism through the lens of the ‘nearby’: how has your area been shaped by ‘The Age of Travel’?

AirBnBification and Digital Nomads

Overtourism changing the character of an historic centre, beauty spot or another viral location

Lost fame and fortune: an old venue which played host to a long-gone artistic scene, or an overlooked figure from your hometown or region who had an impact on the world around them.

Short fiction on the theme

Interviews with people who embody the place: shopkeepers; musicians; artists; journalists; authors; photographers - anyone you judge to fit this category.

FARSANG

Highlights

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