Where I'm From

Perfect for fans of The Catch Me If You Can, this soulful travel memoir blends poetry, global adventure, cultural connection and personal transformation with reflections on race, identity, and belonging. In 2010, Ebony Walden—a twenty-nine-year-old city planner, poet, and New York transplant—embarked on an eight-month solo journey across fifteen countries and five continents. Propelled by a desire to find adventure and purpose, she goes from teaching English at an elementary school in Guatemala, to conducting poetry workshops in Kenya and paragliding over the Swiss Alps. She’s doing exactly what she set out to do: Explore numerous cultures and form meaningful connections with people, place, and poetry. But Ebony quickly begins to find that every destination challenges her in unexpected ways, forcing her to confront long-buried traumas from growing up in poverty in New York. And it’s only through backpacking and volunteering around the globe, that she begins to understand that travel is not just about seeing the world, but about letting it change you. Part poetic reflection, part coming-of-age story, Where I’m From invites readers to take their own journey beyond borders and come home to themselves.