Pico Iyer has been called “arguably the greatest living travel-writer” by Outside magazine and “one of 100 visionaries worldwide who could change your life” by the Utne Reader. A traveler since birth, he has ventured throughout Asia for more than 30 years, as chronicled in his books including Video Night in Kathmandu, Falling Off the Map, Sun After Dark, The Lady and the Monk, and The Global Soul. Since 1987 he’s been based in western Japan, though often making forays from Laos to Bali and Ladakh to Bangkok.