Glorying in the road trip

The New York Times’ Paper Cuts blog has a Q&A today with San Francisco writer Sean Wilsey, who talks about his current project, a book called State by State. Wilsey explains: “It’s a patriotic/overwhelming undertaking that involves 50 writers writing original essays on the 50 states… The inspiration comes from the great WPA guides to the United States… The Federal Writers’ Project, sent out our best writers to write about the country, and, largely, its roads. The government sent thousands of writers on road trips. In the course of driving around the country they documented flora and fauna, took down oral histories, compiled regional histories, codified folklore, designed driving tours.” Read more.