A new literary travel series, pairing writers with a city they have called home, is to be launched in the US and UK in January 2027. “Travel with a writer” will open with four paperbacks: from Catherine Lacey on New York, Emily Itami on Tokyo, Brian Winter on São Paulo, and Eleonora Marangoni on Rome.

“Our authors are chosen for both their intimate knowledge of their subject and their gifts as storytellers,” the publisher says. “Through their eyes, you’ll experience what it’s like not merely to visit a place but to live there, with the ideal combination of familiarity and wonderment.”

The series comes from The Walking Tree, which describes itself as “an independent publishing house devoted to new ways of writing about place”. It was founded in France (as L’arbre qui marche) in March 2025 by two former journalists and editors, Nadia Krovnikoff and François Saugier. Its expansion into the US and UK is led by Kristina Kearns, former executive and editorial director of McSweeney’s (the San Francisco publisher founded by the novelist Dave Eggers) and operations director of the London-based Fitzcarraldo Editions, with Daniel Levin Becker, former literary and features editor of The Believer magazine.

“We didn’t send writers somewhere new,” says Saugier. “We asked them to write about home, because that’s where the real knowledge is. Most of our authors are novelists; hopefully they’ll invent a novel way to travel.” As well as original essays, each book will include QR-code maps, walking itineraries and cultural recommendations.

Further books are planned, including Bogotá with Santiago Gamboa, Chicago with Rebecca Makkai, Athens with Amanda Michalopoulou, Lisbon with Gonçalo Tavares, Buenos Aires with Martín Caparrós, Vancouver with Ian Williams, Hanoi with Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, and Taipei with Michelle Kuo.