London, Litro and the Expat Experience

In the last six months my life has undergone a major upheaval. I've moved away from the Pacific Northwest and returned to England - specifically, the London suburbs where I grew up. The move generated hundreds of cardboard boxes (many of which are still clogging our garage), more than a few broken or missing items, and a general feeling of unease.

Luckily not everything associated with it was so negative. Since returning to London I have been appointed Non-Fiction Editor for literary website Litro.co.uk, a role that I'm already enjoying. Which brings me to my point: we need your essays. We're aiming to publish one non-fiction essay every Saturday, so we need a constant flow of high-quality writing. We're open to travel writing, memoir, personal essays, experimental non-fiction... If it's interesting and well-written, we'd love to take a look at it. The upper word limit is 2000 - but if it blows us away, we may forget that temporarily. You can submit your essays here. Please send us your best, and spread the word.

If you want an idea of what we like, check out the recent essays on our website. Or read my latest essay, In Transit, at The Nervous Breakdown. It's about a life spent travelling, the trials and tribulations of being an expat, and the curious feeling of returning home after twenty years. It's been a labour of love. Much of it was written on the road, or at least on my iPad. Sections were composed in Starbucks, and in our new home while the delivery team unpacked a lifetime of belongings around me. I think they stitched together pretty well. If they didn't, hopefully it only adds to the essay's impression of unease.

This is my essay. Hope you like it. Now, send me yours...

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