FORTUNATE TRAVELLER

About

Fortunate Traveller is committed to publishing and promoting nonfictional, itinerant narratives. We believe in travel, and its transformational and enlightenment value, when combined with a responsibility to represent people and places ethically and thoughtfully. We encourage cosmopolitanism and people who travel, have distinct experiences and bring back their narratives.

We believe true travel can be much more than just being away or on vacation. We are as curious about places and spaces ordinarily perceived as just representations or ideas on the atlas as we are curious about destinations that are thought of as being well-trodden. We are characterizing these places and bringing them alive through the narratives of travellers, road-trippers, hikers, seafarers who have gone on journeys and have experienced something different and unique they would like to share.

We believe that travel and travel writing need not be the preserve of the wealthy, the privileged, and those whose voices have traditionally been heard as travellers.

By doing this, we are fulfilling our objective: telling the world more about the world, its peoples and cultures and checking our other mission statements:

  • Build a network of travellers and travel enthusiasts
  • Help and assist travellers, or other writers interested in travel and travel writing
  • Improve the level of travel writing consciousness of Africans
  • Improve the level of discussion around travel writing.

The journal is co-founded and published by two individuals who came together over their passion for travel writing and in response to a need for a well oriented travel journal:

Tọ́pẹ́-ẸniỌbańkẹ́ Adégòkè is a traveller, literary critic and writer from Ibadan, Nigeria. He has travelled extensively in his home country, Nigeria, and has worked with different publishing houses in the country. His chapbook of travels across Africa, Transacting Stories: Markets, People and Places (Invisible Borders: 2018) was exhibited at the 2019 AfriCologne Festival, Germany and the 12th Bamako Encounters – African Biennale of Photography, Mali. He regularly contributes to discussions of African literature.

Rebecca Jones has taught at the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham. She has a PhD in African Studies from the University of Birmingham, where she researched the history of Nigerian travel writing in Yoruba and English and later published At the Crossroads: Nigerian Travel Writing and Literary Culture in Yoruba and English (BoydellandBrewer: 2019). She is an editor of AfricaInWords, and has long experience in editing and curating writing.