For my very first story for WSJ magazine, I wrote about the culinary revolution quietly taking place in the sleepy hamlet of Paternoster, a quiet coastal getaway an hour from Cape Town.
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Recent Work
I report on a spate of buzzy new restaurants opened on Cape Town’s once-neglected Bree Street for Endless Vacation magazine.
One of the first things I noticed about Cape Town was a spate of operations with quirky hybrid business models: motorcycle shops slash coffee houses, laundromats slash dim sum bars, skincare boutiques slash hip restaurants. I reported on this interesting trend for the New York Times
This one was a biggie for both me AND Cape Town: my writeup on the Mother City was picked as the number one place to go in the world in 2014 for the New York Times’ annual list!
A travel feature on Morocco, for the January/February 2014 issue of Harper’s Bazaar India.
For the Wall Street Journal’s Insider’s Guide to Marrakesh, I interviewed socialite Christine Alaoui, designer Paloma Picasso, photographer Hassan Hajjaj, and chef Moha Fedal.
For my debut in the pages of Condé Nast Traveller UK, I stayed in five different Joburg hotels to compare what works and what doesn’t.
Just past midnight, Jacob Zuma appeared on SABC TV to announce the passing of Nelson Mandela. An hour later, I hit the streets of Cape Town to hear what people…
Flying British Airways this month? The keep an eye out on the in-flight magazine High Life for my piece on Johannesburg’s hip Maboneng Precinct.
Awards & Books
Awards
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2021: Honorable mention for the Grand Award, Travel Journalist of the Year
- South Asian Journalists Association, 2021: Outstanding Arts and Culture Reporting for “Zanzibar in the Rain,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2020: Bronze in Short Work on Travel for “Raise the Roof,” Condé Nast Traveler
- South Asian Journalists Association, 2019: Outstanding Arts, Culture, and Lifestyle Reporting about South Asia for “Force of Nature,” Surface magazine
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2018: Gold award in US/Canada Travel for “A Muslim American’s Homecoming: Cowboys, Country Music, Chapatis,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2018: Bronze in Service-Oriented Consumer Work for “My Town,” Virtuoso Life
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2017: Gold in Culinary-Related Travel for “Eating Bunny Chow in Durban,” Saveur
- South Asian Journalists Association, 2017: Outstanding Arts and Culture Reporting for “Eating Bunny Chow in Durban,” Saveur
- North American Travel Journalists Association Awards, 2016: Two Silver awards in Destination Travel and Adventure Travel for “7 Days, 1500 Miles in Namibia,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2016: Gold in Foreign Travel for “7 Days, 1500 Miles in Namibia,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2015: Gold in Personal Comment for “Returning to Hyderabad, Once a Land of Princes and Palaces,” New York Times
- Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing, 2013: Silver in Most Unforgettable Character for “Spitting Distance in Jodhpur,” Wall Street Journal
Books
- New York Times Cultured Traveler: Contributed a feature on Bosnia & Herzegovina to this upcoming anthology
- Best American Travel Writing 2021: “City of Saints” from Travel + Leisure was selected for the 2021 edition of this anthology, edited by Padma Lakshmi and Jason Wilson
- New York Times 36 Hours World: 150 Cities from Abu Dhabi to Zurich: Contributed 36 Hours guides to Johannesburg and Mumbai for this anthology
- My Life Abroad: A Selection of Expat Stories: Contributed to this compilation of expat stories from around the globe, recounting my experience as an American in South Africa, in the chapter “From New York City to Cape Town.”
- The Places We’ve Been: Field Reports from Travelers Under 35: Contributed my essay “When Coconuts Attack” to this travel anthology.