The Allure of Homer's Tale

Meet me in London next week! Our first Going Places meet-up is on; details below.

📅 We're gathering on Sunday, August 2nd, at 11:00 AM at Beanie Green - Little Venice, a coffee spot by the canal near Paddington.

We'll grab a coffee (or fish & chips) and get to know others in our community who are based in London – or happen to be passing by, just like me!

This is a free-to-attend event, but RSVP is required here, so I know how many people to expect.

xx Yulia

🏠 Inside Going Places

Coming up this week

➡️ 🇨🇱 Our Chile series starts this Wednesday, July 22nd!

Over the course of eight weeks, we'll share one short story in your inbox every Wednesday that will provide a bit of context and history of this fascinating place and introduce you to some of its most interesting people.

🚀 Paid Members Corner

This week's creator opportunities

🚀 Canadian magazine seeking pitches on arts, culture, and the environment – pitch by Fri, Jul 31

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🚀 A remote writing and editorial role – no deadline

🚀 National Geographic Traveler call for photographers of color – no deadline

🚀 An editorial role for a branding agency – no deadline

🚀 A fully-funded residency in Mallorca this August – no deadline

🚀 National Geographic Traveller is seeking photo stories set in the U.S. – no deadline

🚀🔓BONUS: A $3,500 Writers-In-Residence program in Toronto – apply by Fri, Jul 24

🚀🔓BONUS: An open call for writers, photographers, poets, and illustrators – submit by Fri, Aug 7

Find all the latest opportunities here.

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🌍 In The World

Is The Odyssey on your mind, too?

This weekend, I filed a draft for a story about the Peloponnese, a western peninsula in mainland Greece I visited earlier this Spring.

Located just a few hours west of Athens but barely getting any foreign visitors, the Peloponnese is about to get its long-due spotlight because of a summer blockbuster playing on screens across the U.S. since this weekend: Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.

The movie was partially shot on location in the Peloponnese.

Here's what's incredible about the Peloponnese: it is not only a movie set for the 2026 epic, but also the location for the actual events set in this 3,000-year-old story.

My article explores just how and where the events in Homer's story play out on the peninsula – and it's out soon!

While working on my assignment, I dug into the themes of The Odyssey.

The story follows a harrowing journey of one man trying to come home. In 24 books, it wrestles with ideas of xenia, a hospitality contract between guests and hosts, and nostos, homecoming.

Modern audiences will find many aspects of this ancient tale relevant, but two themes in particular stood out to me: displacement and redemption.

On his long way home, Odysseus battles storms, monsters, an unreliable crew, the meddling of the gods, and his own human temptations. He makes many mistakes, fails his men, and spends a year with his new lover Circe, forgetting about his mission.

Yet, against all odds, he eventually returns, reclaiming the relationship with his wife and son after an unimaginably long two decades.

Why does this story still resonate?

We live at a time that seems to be especially precarious and unstable, with millions of people worldwide displaced, expelled, uprooted from their homes, or otherwise othered.

And even if we have relative security and safety, belonging to a place, the way Odysseus belongs to Ithaca, is becoming increasingly hard in our fractured, digitized, distracted world.

The Odyssey gives us something to hold on to, because in some shape or form, we are all trying to find our way home. In this story from the Bronze Age, we can find some hope.

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