Don George is New Travel Editor at Lonely Planet.

Business Editors/Travel & Publishing Writers

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2001

Lonely Planet, the international travel publisher of guidebooks and travel information for adventurous travelers, announced Monday that Don George, perviously of Salon's Wanderlust and the San Francisco Examiner, has joined their staff to serve as Travel Editor.

Acclaimed for his writing and editing, Don has been a pioneer in the travel field for more than two decades. As travel editor at the San Francisco Examiner, he oversaw an editorial expansion and redesign that catapulted the travel section into national prominence. One of the first journalists to explore the possibilities of the Internet, Don joined American Online to create a package of interviews, essays and travelogues known as "The Don George Show." He later founded and edited Salon.com's much-loved travel site, Wanderlust, which was widely praised as the pre-eminent literary travel site on the web.

Don's mission at Lonely Planet brings together the varied facets of his career to date: He will be writing and editing original content for Lonely Planet's award-winning web site; bringing writers into Lonely Planet's literary travel book series, Journeys; and developing a series of interviews with great travel writers and travelers, to be called Lonely Planet Conversations.

"We're thrilled to have a travel writer and journalist of Don's calibre joining our staff," said Eric Kettunen, Lonely Planet's US General Manager, "and I'm confident that he will make an enormous contribution to our travel publishing program, both in print and online developing new content on www.lonelyplanet.com."

In his career, Don has been honored with numerous writing and editing awards, including the Pacific Area Travel Association Gold Award for best travel article of the year and various awards in the Society of American Travel Writers competitions for Best Newspaper Travel Section, Best Travel Web Site and Travel Journalist of the Year. He has also developed a distinguished reputation as a speaker, lecturing frequently on travel writing and publishing at conferences around the world, and as an interviewer known for his insightful encounters with such authors as Isabel Allende, Peter Matthiessen, Pico Iyer, Jan Morris and Paul Theroux. Don is frequently called upon by radio and TV talk shows to speak as a global travel expert. Most recently he appeared on National Public Radio's The World (WGBH Boston), The Money Machine (techTV), Travel Update (CNX Media), and CNN's Travel Now.

In addition to his work at the Examiner and Salon, Don has edited two books, Salon.com's Wanderlust: Real-Life Tales of Adventure and Romance, published by Villard, and Travelers' Tales: Japan, published by by Travelers' Tales, Inc., and has published more than 600 articles in such magazines as Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Islands and Travel Holiday. He co-founded and chairs each year the popular Book Passage Travel Writers Conference in Corte Madera, California. Don has also worked as a translator in Paris, a teacher at Athens College in Greece, and a television talk show host in Tokyo.

"Lonely Planet has been a part of my life since Southeast Asia on a shoestring led me across Asia 25 years ago," says Don. "I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of the Lonely Planet team at this exciting time in its development."

Don grew up in Connecticut and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children.