NEWSMAKER Q&A
Tracey Minkin:
Senior Editor, Travel + Features
Tracey Minkin’s ideal train mates (on the Orient Express, no less) would include Shakespeare (I have so many questions!), Melville, and Didion. “I love that we’re on a train! That’s so different from having them to dinner; we have to be able to move past each other in that narrow hall, spy each other coming and going from ablutions, possibly even hear each other sleep! And of course, pass time eating, drinking, and talking.”
What a ride that would be! And with Tracey in her kimono (possibly) sharing her emergency amaro supply. Read more.
Tracey Minkin is Senior Editor, Travel + Features, at Coastal Living, the award-winning luxury lifestyle print and digital brand at Meredith Corporation. Tracey has spent her career as both editor for regional and national magazines and freelance writer. Her writing has been anthologized in collections and has won regional and national awards. She was a contributing author to Fodor’s The Thirteen Colonies, a historical/cultural travel guidebook. Prior to joining Coastal Living in 2014, she was the founding editor of GoLocalProv.com, an all-digital news and information platform in Providence, Rhode Island. She has an MS from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Q&A with Tracey Minkin
If you could have a job outside of travel editorial, what would it be?
If I’m still allowed to be in editorial, it would be writing long, arcane medical non-fiction. I’m a doctor’s daughter, so maybe my unquenchable thirst for medical research, explication (and oddities!) comes from sitting in his office on the rug and “reading” issues of JAMA when I was a little girl.
If I have to leave editorial, I’d work in a bookshop or an art house movie theatre. Or take tickets at Brooklyn Academy of Music or the National Theatre in London so I could see all the plays for free.
What is your favorite book genre? What are you reading now?
I read like I eat: omnivorously. This includes poetry. Sometimes the world gets so heavy (or the work gets so word-thick), all I can do is read poems. Or plays. I’m on an essay jag right now, dipping in and out of Appalachian Reckoning, a collection of essays in strident response to Hillbilly Elegy, and Sunshine State, Sarah Gerard’s remarkable personal essays.
When you travel for a week or more, what is the item you can’t leave without (excluding your passport, of course)?
My kimono and an emergency amaro supply.
You’re invited to ride the Orient Express. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you want in your car?
I love that we’re on a train! That’s so different from having them to dinner; we have to be able to move past each other in that narrow hall, spy each other coming and going from ablutions, possibly even hear each other sleep! And of course, pass time eating, drinking, and talking. I think for train mates I’d choose Shakespeare (I have so many questions!), Melville, and Didion.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Getting hyper-focused on a line edit. It’s like free-climbing. Not that I’ve ever done that, actually.
What new place would you like to visit now? Why?
I’ve longed to spend extended time in Scandinavia, moving from its progressive and design-forward cities into its remote and mythic landscapes. I’m thinking I’ll need at least a month.
What are the essentials of a memorable travel story?
A damn compelling reason for telling it, first and foremost. Then comes strong and rigorous reporting, thoughtful and intentional organization, carefully tuned language, and a real desire to delight the reader, not elevate oneself. Finally, you can’t underestimate a great lede. And conclusion.
What are your goals for Coastal Living in 2019?
We’ve been refocused by our new parent corporation as a quarterly magazine that’s newsstand only, and costs about $13. That means we have to earn a reader’s investment in dollars and time more than ever (and catch their eye in the marketplace). I relish the challenge, and think, in fact, that it’s the central conversation we should be having about print now: How special can we make a print experience? My goal for Coastal in 2019 is to stretch and experiment and hope to meet that challenge: stories and layouts that are so well-written, so beautifully photographed and designed, that our readers feel smarter, more relaxed, and happier every time they pick us up off the coffee table (or pull us from their beach bags). In digital, I want us to continue to strive for excellence and clarity in stories that suit a mobile device or scroll well on a laptop, fill a desire for knowledge, provide a quality distraction from the stress and anxieties of modern life, and delight (again that word!) with aesthetic-driven escape. And I want us to continue to create the prettiest Instagram feed ever.
Besides a good travel narrative, what about Ten Best lists? Are you attracted to them? If so, why?
As a freelance writer, I’ve written a ton of service travel pieces, and I believe strongly in the form across all platforms—print, digital, email, video, audio, and social. The Ten Best list is a service journalism classic, and when executed well with great research, authority, and sharp writing, it’s a real achievement. That said, there are already a lot of those floating around the Internet. So pitching a Ten Best to a brand like mine must hew closely to our purview, and fill holes in our extant content. No 10 Best Beaches in America, in other words. We’ve done that one!
You can follow Tracey on Instagram @tminkin, and Coastal Living @coastal_living.
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