The Open Road

Time magazine’s cover story on the Dalai Lama comes from Santa Barbara author and travel writer extraordinaire Pico Iyer. “As fans of his travel writings know, Pico’s curiosity has led him to nearly every corner of the globe, but he has always found himself returning to the monk in Dharamsala…” writes Time managine editor Richard Stengel.

“Now Pico offers the definitive portrait of His Holiness in this week’s cover story, which is adapted from his new book, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. `Over the years,’ Pico says, `I’ve been struck by how practically he’s adapted his message to the times and the worldwide audience. He’s thought about his positions more deeply and more rigorously than anyone I’ve ever met.’ ” Read “A Monk’s Struggle” here. 

Knopf releases The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama this week. (More stories: Philadelphia Inquirer , Fresh Air, and The New Yorker.) Pico will be discussing his new book on April 26 at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA and May 19 at the Santa Barbara Arts and Lecture Series. ”I do see this as a travel book,” he says in an interview with World Hum, “and when I think of travel, and any of the travel books I’ve written, the real meaning of them is trying to see the world through different eyes. It’s a journey into a different perspective for me. “

Pico, a contributor to the My California anthology, also penned a wonderful passage about his favorite drive through the Santa Barbara hills for my book Great Escapes: Southern California.