New LGBTQ travel book focuses on ‘destinations versus regions’

BY SARAH CERIO | Some classes at the New School lead to good grades and degrees. In Susan Shapiro’s writing class, that often leads to books. That was evident at last Wednesday night’s packed book event at P&T Knitwear on Orchard Street. There, two former Shapiro students, Mark Jason Williams and Amy B. Scher, who met in Shapiro’s Greenwich Village class, presented their co-authored LGBTQ+ travel book, “Out in The World.” The colorful hardcover was recently published by National Geographic Books in time for Pride Month and featured on “Good Morning America.”

​When speaking about his background, Williams revealed that he suffered from leukemia as a child and was unable to leave the hospital during that time. After studying playwriting for his BFA at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, he developed a passion for travel. As an adult, he visited dozens of countries with the goal of seeing every continent. Williams has had his work published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Out Magazine, and writes travel stories for Far & Wide, Thrillist, and The Globe & Mail.

“Out in the Word,” his first book, organizes locations by destination rather than just region. For example, the reader can look up several locations grouped under “Where No One Goes Hungry.” The author, who lives in New Jersey with his husband and their two old rescue dogs, admitted to experiencing homophobia while traveling. However, he never blames an entire state or nation for a few black sheep and wanted to keep the book positive.

Scher admitted she never went to college and was self-taught. She has written for The Washington Post, CBS, CNN, Los Angeles Review of Books, Cosmopolitan and Oprah Daily and is now the bestselling author of five books, including the “How to Heal Yourself” series, which have been translated into 20 languages. Elizabeth Gilbert (“Eat, Pray, Love”) calls her “a brave warrior and a wonderful writer.” Scher’s 2018 memoir, “This is How I Saved My Life,” was published by Simon & Schuster. She uses her travel experiences to highlight the connection between travel and self-healing. She lives in Uptown with her wife and “bad cat.”

Together, Williams and Scher created a safety guide that recognizes regions that have made great strides in welcoming the queer community. They both traveled with their mothers and offer advice on traveling with older family members.

Host Susan Shapiro, who joked that she is the bestselling author of many books her family hates, taught for 25 years at the New School, NYU and Columbia University and now gives private online lessons.

The authors offered advice such as, “Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and write about your most embarrassing secrets. To combat writer’s block, remember, ‘Plumbers don’t have writer’s block.'” Just get up in the morning and get to work, because ‘a page a day is a book a year.'” In the audience was Steven Harris, the book agent for Out in the World, who generously gave advice to aspiring authors.

Like the books it carries, P&T Knitwear has its own compelling story. The bookstore takes its name from founder Bradley Tusk’s grandfather, Hymie Tusk, and his business partner, Mike Pudio. The first P&T Knitwear opened in 1952 and was a clothing store and a symbol of resilience for the two Holocaust survivors. Today, the P&T Knitwear bookstore seeks to honor their memory by giving back to the same community that helped make Tusk and Pudio’s dream a reality.

Shapiro – whose latest memoir, “The Forgiveness Tour,” comes out in paperback next month – found it poignant to hold an event here since her grandparents and parents grew up in the neighborhood.

“When I moved here to go to NYU,” she said, “I called my dad to tell him I had found a cool place to live in the East Village. He yelled, ‘This is the Lower East Side! The realtors are lying and you’re doing this to annoy us.'”