Elaine's News


Lee spearheads travel writing booth at 2023 Bay Area Book Festival
Good news, it was a pleasure and delight to organize my travel writing association’s first booth and presence at the 9th annual Bay Area Book Festival, which was held May 7th in downtown Berkeley. I declare the event a success. It provided us many wonderful opportunities to educate people about BATW (Bay Area Travel Writers


Elaine Lee honored by Outdoor Afro Organization
10 Black outdoors women who nourish our ‘Nature Swagger’ For Women’s History Month 2023, Outdoor Afro wanted to acknowledge a few female inspirations and contributors to their new book “Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors”, Rue Mapp, in collaboration with American publisher Chronicle Books. As founder and CEO of Outdoor


Elaine Lee has a chapter in “Nature Swagger”!
Good news, I have a chapter in the newly released Chronicle Books publication “Nature Swagger” by Rue Mapp, founder of “Outdoor Afro”, the leading USA based Afrocentric Outdoor Adventure/Nature Lovers Association. Since its creation in 2009, the organization has grown from one to seventy chapters across the USA. https://outdoorafro.org Rue chose to include the story


Elaine has featured travel stories in new venues!
Good news, I have two feature travel stories about Yosemite National Park that appeared in the Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald newspapers as well as Detour Magazine on 7/7/22!!! Additionally, on 6/8/22, those same publications featured a story that I wrote about the Association of African American Vintners 20th Anniversary Celebration Weekend. No such thing as


Elaine Lee was a featured speaker at the 2022 SF Bay Area Travel and Adventure Show
Good news! Elaine Lee was a featured speaker at the 2022 SF Bay Area Travel and Adventure Show which was held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. On May 21st, she taught a travel writing class and was joined on stage by social media/marketing guru, Matthew Felix. Together they provided a top notch insight into


Elaine contributes 8 bios to BlackTravelHistory.com
What is a creative way for a travel journalist to celebrate Black History Month? S/he could write bio sketches of early African American travel heroes for the Black Travel History website hosted by Black Travel Alliance (BTA) and sponsored by Tripadvisor*. https://historyofblacktravel.com/ Well, that is what I did and I am proud to share that


Elaine’s article wins second place in the Los Angeles Press Club’s 14th Annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award Program.
Good news, my article came in 2nd place in the “Art Feature” segment of the Los Angeles Press Club’s 14th Annual Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards Program. It was right behind a New York Times story!!! How cool is that? No such thing as a small victory! The Award Ceremony was held on 2/17/22! https://lapressclub.org/


“Traveling While Black” Round Table Discussion
On Monday, September 27, World Tourism Day, former CNN travel reporter, Kalin Thomas moderated the discussion “Traveling While Black: Tales & Tips from Black Women Travel Writers. To watch the discussion simply click here and wait at least 20 seconds: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HbuEqwiVj3h9ibY2wgi_Q_fzsqvFD3HP/view


Excerpt from Interview with Elaine in Essence’s July Edition
A few of my travel tips are being featured in this month’s Essence Magazine. One of their staffers conducted an extensive interview with me a few weeks ago on the subject of road travel but they only showcased a small segment of the discussion and no picture. Darn it. Nonetheless, I am glad they sought me out, asked for input, gave me a shout out and an opportunity to encourage people to hit the road. No such thing as a small victory.