Public Streets by Public Books
Public Streets is a biweekly urban observations series curated by Ellis Avery for Public Books. We offer a selection of their content here as part of the Guardian Books Network.
Visiting the Audre Lorde archives in Berlin
During her time living in the city, writer Saretta Morgan made multiple trips to the archives of Caribbean-American writer and feminist Audre Lorde in Kreuzberg, Berlin
Monsieur Zierold's guide to Paris: a snapshot of the city in the 1950s
While thumbing through an old travel guide, writer Susan Harlan found a yellowed card tucked inside, filled with tips for navigating Paris in the 1950s
A small simple stone: looking for Barbara Pym in Oxfordshire
As an American fan of Barbara Pym, author Cassandra Neyenesch made a trip to Pym’s home in Finstock to find her gravestone – and found traces from her plots throughout the village
Deep in the American West: meet Harry Koyama, a beet farmer with an artist's soul
One of the few Asian Americans in the Yellowstone Valley, artist Harry Koyama paints flamboyant canvases of wildlife, wild places, and people that make up Montana. Writer Carrie La Seur is awestruck
Postcard from Zimbabwe: Harare in four pharmacies
Our urban observations series takes us to Harare, where Amanda Atwood’s drive across town sees her reflecting on healthcare and double standards
A postcard from Durham, keeping it dirty in North Carolina
In ‘Dirty Durham’ where crack houses are being replaced hipster gluten-free pizza bars, writer Michael Keenan Gutierrez mulls over gentrification at a ball game
A postcard from Monte Ulia, a hidden mountain in the Basque Country
You might have explored San Sebastian’s beaches, pintxos bars and nightlife – but you almost certainly don’t know the three mountains surrounding it. Basque writer Gabriel Urza explores these spots full of history and hidden beauty
A postcard from Yangon: Pansodan Road's famous second-hand book market
If you want to learn the history of Myanmar’s biggest city, head to the road where all the city’s books end up. Claudia Sofia Sosa strolls the same streets as Orwell and Neruda
A postcard from Hirado, the end of the world
Welcome to Public Streets, our new urban observations series in partnership with Public Books. Kicking it off, Franco-Japanese writer Sanaë Lemoine’s explores the sleepy and mysterious Hirado Island in southern Japan
