Rolf Potts

Rolf Potts was born on October 13, 1970, in Wichita, Kansas. The son of schoolteachers, his early life included experiences such as hopping freight trains across the Pacific Northwest and an eight-month Volkswagen Vanagon journey around North America in the early 1990s. He later taught English in Busan, South Korea, marking an early phase of his extended international experiences. Potts began his professional writing career by contributing travel dispatches from the road for online outlets like salonmagazine.com, which later became Salon.com. His essay “Storming ‘The Beach'” about infiltrating a Leonardo DiCaprio film set in Thailand in 1999, was selected by Bill Bryson for inclusion in ‘The American Travel Writing 2000,’ highlighting his unique approach to travel narratives.

In 2003, Potts released his first book, “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel.” This work combined practical advice with philosophical insights and has been widely recognized for influencing the digital nomad movement. The book earned praise from the Boston Globe and led USA Today to call him “Jack Kerouac for the Internet Age.” His subsequent book, “Marco Polo Didn’t Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer” (2008), received a Lowell Thomas Award and the Bruce Chatwin Prize for international travel writing in Italy in 2009. Potts continued to publish with works like “Souvenir” (2018) for Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series and “The Vagabond’s Way” (2022), a spiritual sequel to his debut, further solidifying his position as a prominent voice in travel literature.

Beyond his books, Potts has contributed to numerous publications including Outside, National Geographic Traveler, Slate, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. In 2010, he undertook a six-week, no-luggage journey around the world, documenting his experiences in an online video series. He has also engaged in guest lecturing, serving as the 2011-2012 ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writers House, and teaching nonfiction writing at Yale University. He currently directs annual summer writing workshops in Paris, sharing his expertise in travel memoir storytelling. His podcast, “Deviate,” launched in 2017, allows him to explore a wide range of topics beyond strictly travel, from cultural commentary to scientific discussions.